The Equestrian Duel Knights
by badboylover24
Summary: Here it is: my one-hundredth fanfic; something that's been on my mind for some time now: After finding out she was adopted, a young woman runs away...only to end up in Equestria where she and some new friends have to save Ponyville from a YuGiOh monster invasion! I only own my OC, & I don't own any of the songs in this fanfic; them & everything else belongs to their proper owners.
1. Prologue

As she packed her backpack, Pam wiped the tears from her aquamarine eyes before straightening her glasses again. She thought she was done crying, but her eyes have proven her otherwise. Probably from remembering the incident from a few hours ago.

" _I can't believe this happened!" Pam yelled out loud. "Why did Luke and Amy have to call it off?! I was asked to be one of the bridesmaids."_

 _Pam just got the bad news that her brother Luke and his fiancée Amy are forced to call off the wedding due to money problems. Her older sister Mel, a beautiful woman with long blond hair and blue eyes, tried to calm her down._

" _Pam, will you calm down? It's not the end of the world." Pam only turned to her angrily._

" _Oh, don't give me that! I bet you're practically_ happy _that Luke's not getting married to Amy! And all because of her medical problems? She has a bad back and a bad foot that she needs those medications for!"_

" _What's that got to do with_ you _?!" Mel demanded, annoyed at her accusations._

" _I'm the only one of three sisters who_ hasn't _been a bridesmaid, that's what!_ You _got to be a bridesmaid plenty of times for your sorority sisters._ Vikki _got to be a bridesmaid for Kat at her and Tyson's wedding. And what about_ me _?! I'm just a discarded piece of chopped liver!"_

" _Hey, you got to do the readings at_ my _wedding! Isn't that enough for you?!"_

" _Readings, readings, readings! That's all I'm good at for you! I'm not_ just _a reader, Mel! I'm also an_ artist _! As one of your bridesmaids, I've could've done_ more _for your wedding. But nooo, you want you_ sorority _sisters instead of your_ actual _sisters!"_

" _YOU'RE NOT EVEN MY REAL SISTER!"_

 _Pam felt her body go numb at those words._

" _Wh-What?" Realizing what she just blurted out, Mel covered her mouth with a shocked gasp._

" _P-Pam, I…I didn't mean—" But Pam ran out of the room to find her parents, hoping that what she said was a just a sick joke Mel made to win the argument._

Pam felt tears sting her eyes again as she ran her fingers through her dark chocolate hair. She couldn't believe that all this time, she was living a lie her entire life. Even her parents hesitantly told her that what Mel said was the truth and that she was adopted as a baby. They found her in some kind of basket/pod in the front yard and took her in as their own child.

Despite their assuring her that she'll always be their beloved daughter, Pam feels hurt that she was lied to her whole life. What's worse is that she has no idea _who_ she really is or _where_ she actually came from; her parents don't even know.

Knowing that she's not going to get her answers here, Pam is left with the first possible option that came to mind. She knows that running away never solves anything, but she wants her answers, and she wants them _now_. So she gathered all her things while everyone else is asleep and started to pack them into her backpack. Once all her things are together, she zipped it closed and slung it onto her back. She then took one last look at the not on her bed:

" _I'm sorry, but I can't stay here thinking about the fact that I'm not truly part of this family. I need to find out who I really am. Please don't go looking for me, and don't fall apart because of me. I'm sorry. Goodbye."_

Pam couldn't help but feel that her letter was cold and that her running away _will_ make her family fall apart. But could she live with the fact that she was adopted instead of being their actual daughter/sister?

Fighting back her burning tears, Pam turned to her two dogs Killian and Bailey. Killian is an off-white standard poodle, and Bailey is a golden lab. Kneeling down, Pam wrapped an arm around each of their necks to give them one last hug.

"Bye, girls," she said to them softly. "Take good care of Mom and Dad for me." She felt as though she shouldn't be calling them those names when they were never really her parents in the first place, but this will probably be the last time she will ever see them again, at least until she gets her answers. Then perhaps she'll think about returning.

The dogs meanwhile just wagged their tails and licked the tears off her face. They don't know she's running away; they merely thought she's going away for a short while. With a heavy sigh, Pam got up and quietly walked up to the door. She then opened it carefully before looking out into the hallway for any signs of life. Finding that the cost is clear, Pam stepped out and closed the bedroom door behind her. Then she made her way quietly down the hall and towards the front door. Once there, she opened the door as carefully as she could, not wanting to alert the dogs and wake up her "parents". Once opened far enough, she stepped out into the night air and closed the door behind her so the cool night air doesn't sir anyone awake.

The area around her is dark indeed, but the trees and grass and such glowed silver, thanks to the light of the full moon. This will be a good thing; she'll need as much light as the night could offer her, as she'll make her way through the night-lit environment. So she made her way down the porch steps and towards the field just next to her house.

Once she set foot into the field, Pam gave one last glance to her house, her home for so long.

"Goodbye…" Then she turned her back to it and headed down the vast field, a tear trickling down her cheek from her eye. Once she's far enough, Pam began to sing, hoping it will help her cope.

 _Look at me_

 _You may think you see_

 _Who I really am_

 _But you'll never know me_

 _Every day_

 _It's as if I play a part_

 _Now I see_

 _If I wear a mask_

 _I can fool the world_

 _But I cannot fool my heart_

Pam then looked up at the moon, wondering if there will be a sign to guide her.

 _Who is that girl I see_

 _Staring straight back at me?_

 _When will my reflection show_

 _Who I am inside?_

 _If there's anyone who can help me figure out who I am,_ she prayed, _please send me a sign._

 _I am now_

 _In a world where I_

 _Have to hide my heart_

 _And what I believe in_

 _But somehow_

 _I will show the world_

 _What's inside my heart_

 _And be loved for who I am_

As Pam kept on walking and singing, at the edge of a neighboring field, a pile of junk resides, serving as a dump for the farmer and his neighbors. As if it could hear Pam's singing from afar, the dump pile began to glow a colorful light from the inside.

 _Who is that girl I see_

 _Staring straight back at me?_

 _Why is my reflection_

 _Someone I don't know?_

 _Must I pretend that I'm_

 _Someone else for all time?_

 _When will my reflection show_

 _Who I am inside?_

Suddenly, the light shot up out of the pile and above the tippy-top of the trees, taking the form of an orb of colorful light.

 _There's a heart that must be_

 _Free to fly_

 _That burns with a need to know_

 _The reason why_

The orb then turned to the direction of the voice and shot towards it at top speed.

 _Why must we all conceal_

 _What we think, how we feel?_

 _Must there be a secret me_

 _I'm forced to hide?_

 _I won't pretend that I'm_

 _Someone else for all time_

 _When will my reflection show_

 _Who I am inside?_

 _When will my reflection show_

 _Who I am inside?_

As she finished singing, Pam kept on walking and praying for a sign…until a flash of light appeared before her, causing her to fall back with a cry. She then straightened her glasses to get a better look at the light, which is in the form of a colorful orb floating down to the ground before her.

"What in the world…?" It was all she could say as the orb dimmed as it touches the ground. When the light vanished, Pam saw that the orb has taken a new form. It looks like some kind of space pod made of reeds like a basket. Curious, she got her flashlight and shone it on the basket/pod.

The reeds are of different colors: crimson red; sunset orange; golden yellow; forest green; ocean blue; and midnight violet. There are also some reeds there with all six colors, making Pam think they're made of opals. Looking inside, she saw that the inside is a shiny pearl white metal that reminds her of the inside of an eggshell after the contents have been cleaned off. There are also bedding, a blanket, and a pillow (all snow white) inside of the basket/pod. Pam put her hand in it and caressed the silky sheet in awe. Could this be the basket/pod that her parents found her in years ago?

Pam stopped her hand when she felt something under the blanket and carefully lifted it back. Under the sheet and on the bedding was a wristband just like the opal-colored reeds of the basket/pod but thicker.

There's also a white disk on the wristband the size of the face of a watch. What's weird about it is that it looks like a small version of the round part of a Dueldisk from the _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ merchandise, the part with the Life Points, counter, the deck compartment, and the discard compartment.

 _Mom and Dad never mentioned finding_ this _with me,_ Pam thought to herself with an arched eyebrow. _Probably didn't see it when they took me out of my_ _basket/pod. I wonder what it is…_

Pam then reached her hand out to touch it. When her fingers touched the disk, it gave off a bright flash of light. Then her entire world went black.


	2. Chapter 1

**Here's the first chapter (the chapter after my prologue). And just to give you the heads up, I only own my OC Pam. Everything else belongs to their proper owners: Hasbro; Konami; Disney; Nickelodeon; Kenneth Oppel/Bardel Entertainment; and Lego. I also don't own the song that was in the prologue; it belongs to Christina Aguilera and the Disney movie Mulan. Other than that, enjoy.**

"… _e gon…e oka…_ "

"… _o worr…_ "

"… _iss, a…ou alri…_ " Pam groaned as she felt a hand rub her forehead. At least it… _felt_ like a hand; the palm is all…scaly?

"I…I think I'm okay," she answered, rubbing her still closed eyes. "And…not to change the subject, but…where did you get those weird gloves?"

"Gloves?" asked a low male voice with some Spanish accent.

"She must be talking about my hands," explained a second male voice, this one with a British accent. Pams' confused now. What are they talking about? And why are their voices so familiar?

"Wait," she said when she realized something. "Has anyone seen my glasses? I can't see well without them."

"Oh, here ya go," said the voice of a young boy as she felt her glasses against her hand.

"Oh, thanks," she replied, taking them and putting them on. When she did, she opened her eyes…to find a white snake's head with fuchsia eyes looking down at her.

"AAAAUUUGGH!"

"AAAAUUUGGH!" Pam and the snake screamed for about a few seconds before another voice spoke up.

"Excuse me, but do you mind turning the volume down? Some of us still have headaches to get rid of here!"

"Now, Skrawl, that's no way to talk to a lady," said a second British voice, this one more robotic.

Surprised, Pam calmed down and looked around. She found that she's no longer in the field but in the throne room of Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle from _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_. She also saw that she's surrounded by a group of cartoon characters she knows so well. There's the Mane Six: the super-smart Alicorn Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle; the hard-working cowgirl Applejack; the bashful animal-lover Fluttershy; the hyperactive party planner Pinkie Pie; the fashionable fashionista Rarity; and the tomboy daredevil Rainbow Dash. The baby dragon Spike's with them too; he was the one who handed Pam her glasses.

Pam also saw that Spike's not the only male in the room. The white snake turned out to be Pythor P. Chumsworth, the Anacondrai from _Ninjago_. There are also: Jaden Yuki and Chazz Princeton from _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX_ ; NOS-4-A2 from _Buzz Lightyear of Star Command_ ; Skrawl from _Chalkzone_ ; and Goth from _Silverwing_.

Pam then rubbed her head.

"This is one insane dream. I'm surrounded by cartoons." Everyone looked at each other in confusion before Goth spoke up.

"I'm not sure what you meant by that last part, _senorita_ , but I assure you this is _no_ dream."

"Only one way to be sure," she replied before reaching down to her arm and pinching it. "Ow!"

"Oh, goodness," Fluttershy said with shock. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, sweetie," Pam answered her assuringly. "It's just a little pinch to tell me I'm awake." She blinked with surprise when it dawned on her. "Oh, no!"

"What's wrong?" asked Pinkie.

"I'm _not_ dreaming! Oh, please tell me I'm not dead. Please tell me I'm not dead!"

"I'm sure you're not dead, my dear," NOS-4-A2 assured her as he helped her up. "If you are, you wouldn't have felt that pinch."

Pam sighed with relief when she realized that he's right. But then she noticed a couple of changes. NOS-4-A2's cape is missing, revealing his sharp shoulders. Skrawl has a robot-like arm attached to his left side, made of silver and with three claws for fingers. Goth is now the size of a human adult, he's fully healed and well-groomed like he was never electrocuted as shown in the Silverwing episode _Friends in Deed_ , and the band on his left wrist is shinier and looks a bit more golden than bronze.

"Hey," Skrawl then said, "anyone besides me noticed that she's got a wristband on her wrist too?" Confused, Pam looked down at her left wrist…and found the wristband from the basket/pod on it!

"What the—" She held it up to get a better look at it. "How did I get this on me?!"

"I don't know," Chazz answered, "but we got those too." The six males then held up their left wrists to show her their wristbands. Jaden's is crimson red while Chazz's is ocean blue. Skrawl's is forest green while NOS-4-A2's is sunset orange. And Goth's is golden yellow while Pythor's is midnight violet. Pam also saw that Goth's wristband and his metal band are one and the same, and Skrawl's wristband is on the wrist of his robot arm.

"Okay, this is getting weird," Pam replied.

"You think _this_ is weird?" Jaden replied. "I wanna know why you called us cartoons." Pam mentally hit herself at this realization; they're gonna freak out when she tells them the truth.

"Yes, I am rather curious about that myself," Pythor stated, crossing his arms across his chest with a suspicious look in his eyes. Pam didn't like that look one bit; it's practically goading her to _not_ to lie to them. Of course, Pam would never _dream_ of lying to them. She hates lying, except when she must to keep a surprise secret as per request. Besides, Applejack would see right through her lies considering she represents the Element of Honest.

"Alright, I'll fess up," she hesitated. "Just…don't freak out when I tell you." She then took a deep breath, introduced herself, and explained how she knew them from her world. When she finished, she braced herself for the bad outburst from telling them the truth. What she got instead was a barrage of excited (in a good way) questions.

"Do I have any huge fans besides you?!"

"Was my hair okay?"

"How _awesome_ am I?!" The questions stopped at the sudden noise of a loud whistle, and everyone turned to see that it was Twilight who blew a silver whistle before scolding them.

"Will everypony just calm down? Poor Pamela here has been through a lot, and your bombarding her with questions is only making it worse for her." They all calmed down shamefully when they realized that she's right.

"My bad."

"Sorry about that."

"My sincerest apologies." Pam blinked with surprise when Pythor took her hand gently and brought it up to his pearl white lips.

"My apologies to you most of all, Miss Pamela," he said to her with gentle eyes. "I should not have forced you to tell us the truth because of suspicions." He then pressed his lips onto her hand and kissed it gently, making her blush tickled pink.

"Whoa," Jaden said with wide eyes.

"Didn't see that coming," Goth concurred. NOS-4-A2 and Skrawl shook their heads in agreement.

"Living proof that chivalry isn't dead," Rarity giggled with delight. Pam then snapped out of her daze and looked up at Pythor.

"Oh, I…It's alright, Pythor. I don't like to lie to be honest. And even if I _did_ lie, Applejack would see right through it since she represents the Element of Honesty."

"Point taken," Applejack and Chazz replied in unison.

"So someone mind telling me what in the name of Pablo Picasso is going on here?" Pam then asked, turning to the Ponies. "How did we end up here?"

"Uh, that would probably be _my_ fault," Twilight answered sheepishly/awkwardly before getting it all together. "See, during the last couple of weeks—in _our_ world, I mean—there have been some sightings of these strange creatures outside of Ponyville."

"Some of them looked small and cute," Fluttershy stated.

"Some looked mighty dangerous," Applejack added.

"Some looked totally awesome!" Rainbow continued in a cool manner.

"Some looked beautiful and divine," Rarity commented with a dreamy look on her face.

"And some looked just plain silly," Pinkie finished with a giggle.

"Uh, not to be a smart aleck or anything," Pam replied, "but are you sure they're not Changelings in disguises?"

"That's what I thought too," Twilight answered. "But then I used a spell Discord gave me to sense the aura of a Changeling, and it tells me that they are _not_ Changelings. Now you're probably thinking the spell he gave me was a dud since he loves to play jokes. But I assure you it's the real deal; I've even tested it and followed the steps perfectly. Besides, Discord _hates_ Changelings with a passion."

"Yeah, says they give love a bad name," Rainbow added.

"Why's that?" asked Jaden.

"They feed on the love of others and threaten to take over all of Equestria while they're at it," Pam explained. "Anyway, what do these creatures have to do with us?"

"Well, I looked into this book in my library and found this spell that's suppose to 'call forth the answer to our problem'," Twilight explained. "And when I performed it, it brought the seven of you here." Now Pam's more confused.

"Are you _sure_ about that?" she asked before holding up her wrist with the wristband on it. "I thought it was _this_ thing here. When I found it, it gave off a flash of light when I touched it."

"Yeah, same thing happened to me and Chazz," Jaden replied with a bit of thought.

"The Chazz _told_ you to stay away from them," the other boy scolded him.

"The same thing happened to me when I found mine during Dr. Misako's expedition," Pythor stated.

"I too experienced it when I found this 'wristband' just outside _mi selva_ ," Goth added looking down at his wristband with an arched eyebrow.

"I found mine just at the outskirts of a city in Nightzone," Skrawl explained with a shrug. "Same thing happened to me."

"As to me," NOS-4-A2 finished, "only I found mine in a dark alley in Tradeworld." Twilight then thought about this.

"Well, it's just a theory of mine, but it's possible that those wristbands were part of the spell…you know, a key. But like I said, it's just a theory of mine. It was the first time I ever used the spell." That's when Pam thought of something.

"Wait, you said the spell was meant to 'call forth the answer to your problem,' right? What kind of problem was it talking about?" Before Twilight could answer, the throne room doors suddenly burst open, and they all turned to see Starlight Glimmer (Twilight's student on the Magic of Friendship) run into the room, a look of fear written into her eyes.

"Twilight! Girls!" she cried. "We got trouble! Ponyville's getting attacked by—"

"LOOK OUT!" NOS-4-A2 cried, tackling her to the side. When he did, a blur of violet whizzed right past them. It then stopped in the middle of the room to reveal itself as…

"A Rogue Doll?!" Pam agrees with Jaden that it _is_ a Rogue Doll; she recognized those violet locks and golden doll parts anywhere. But what's a Yu-Gi-Oh monster doing _here_? And why is it attacking Starlight? Sure, she was shown as a villain at first by stealing a whole town's Cutie Marks and trying to change the history of the Mane Six and nearly destroyed all of Equestria while she was at it, but that was because her childhood friend Sunburst left her for Magic School after he got his Cutie Mark.

It got worse when the Rogue Doll turned to NOS-4-A2 and Starlight, holding its spear at them to strike them.

"Guys, look out!" Pam cried, rushing up to them. As she did, something awoke inside of her, a need to unlock an unknown power inside of her to fight the monster and help the two in trouble. And out of instinct, she followed her need and unlocked the power.

"Duel Power…UNLOCK!" Her wristband then started to glow into a silhouette made of rainbow colors changing like an aurora borealis. Then it started to grow bigger before it stopped glowing, revealing a normal-sized Yu-Gi-Oh GX Dueldisk (Card Zones and all) that looks as though it's made of rainbow-colored opal. Pam doesn't appear to have noticed as she stepped in between the Rogue Doll and its victims while loading a deck of cards she has in her belt's packet into the Dueldisk (she'll never know when she might be challenged to a Duel game while she was running away). The Rogue Doll stopped with surprise as the human drew out six cards for her hand, but she didn't noticed the sudden fear on its emotionless face as she looked down at her hand and took the card she wanted.

"Chiron the Mage, Attack Mode! GO!" And on "GO!", she slapped the card onto the middle Monster Zone. Then the LP counter/crystal orb glowed before a light shot out and took shape. When the light vanished, standing before them was the armored centaur with the red-orb staff.

"Chiron," Pam called out to him, "take down that Rogue Doll!" The centaur then aimed his staff at his opponent, the red orb glowing gold before firing a golden beam of light at the Rogue Doll, striking it and sending it flying across the room before crashing into a wall.

"Oooh…" Everyone's surprise immediately changed into cringes/winces of pain.

"That's gonna leave a mark in the morning," Skrawl groaned to Rainbow, who nodded with an agreeing nod. They all then watched as the beaten monster suddenly glowed before popping with a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, it was gone, and in its place is its Yu-Gi-Oh! card, which floated to the floor like a gentle feather.

"A card?" Spike asked, going up to it in shock and picking it up. "It turned into a…card?"

Probably what happens when you beat it with a stronger monster," Jaden answered. "I mean, Rogue Doll has 1600 Attack Points while Chiron has 1800, so the odds were in Pam's favor." The others turned to him with confusion.

"How did _you_ know all that?" asked NOS-4-A2.

"Never mind that!" Skrawl cried, holding his arm out at Pam and Chiron. "How the hey was Pam able to bring up a monster like _that_?!" Hearing this, Pam snapped out of it and turned to Chiron, who only gave her a warm smile and a noble nod.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, running her gingers across his horse back. "How _did_ I do that?"

"You mean you weren't aware?" Starlight asked as Applejack and Fluttershy helped her and NOS-4-A2 up.

"No," the human answered, turning to her with a shake of her head. "When I saw you and Nos in trouble, I reacted on impulse like I knew how my wristband works although I just got it."

"Must be the band itself that made you learn how they work," Twilight explained. "You know, through telepathy or something."

"Yeah, but I'm with Nos on what he asked," Rainbow replied, turning to Pam, Chazz, and Jaden. "How did you know about these creatures and cards and stuff?"

"And _what_ , pray tell, is with that 'Nos' nonsense?" asked the annoyed Energy Vampire.

"Well to answer your question quick, Nos," Pam answered, "I personally thought the second part of your name was more like your _last_ name. So I just called you Nos for short because of that."

"I…guess that's understandable," the one now nicknamed Nos replied.

"And secondly," Pam continued, "Chazz, Jaden, and I know about these monsters because they're monsters in a card game in our world."

"Ooh, like Go Fish?" Pinkie Pie asked delightfully.

"Uh, kinda but more…strategic. _Way_ more strategic."

"What can be more strategic than Go Fish?"

"Do you even _know_ the meaning of the word?" asked the offended Jaden. Goth elbowed him in the side with a scolding glare. "Oh! What?"

"Anyway," Pam continued, "in my world, it's also a video game and an anime/manga."

"What are an anime 'n' a manga?" asked Applejack.

"Well, they're—" Pam stopped when she realized something. "Oh, my gosh!" She turned to Starlight sharply. "Star, did you say Ponyville's under attack?!" The Unicorn's eyes shot open with shock.

"Oh, no…I _did_!" She then turned to the Mane Six. "Those creatures we've been seeing lately are attacking Ponyville!"

"WHAAAT?!" everyone cried in unison. Rarity immediately began to faint.

"Ooohhh…" she moaned, her front hoof against her forehead dramatically.

"Whoa, there," Skrawl cried as he and Spike caught her quickly so she won't hit the floor.

"We gotta check this out!" Pam cried, running out of the throne room.

"Pam, wait!" Twilight cried, running after her. The others immediately followed.

"I don't know if your new girlfriend is a _temeraria_ or just plain _loca_ ," Goth said to Pythor as he flew beside him.

"Girlfriend?!" Pythor cried, a blush starting to form on his pure white face. "We just _met_!"

"Then what's with that kiss on the hand back there?" Skrawl teased.

"Trust me when I say that whoever said chivalry's dead obviously couldn't get himself a date for the prom."

"Point taken," Skrawl and Nos replied in unison.


	3. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the delay, but here's the next chapter of Equestrian Duel Knights. Again, I don't own any of the characters or monsters; they all belong to their proper owners. I also don't own the song Coming to the Rescue by O-Town. I do however own my OC Pam. Please enjoy.**

When Pam and all the others burst out the castle doors, they were shocked at what they saw. Various Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters were all over the place, chasing Ponies or attacking buildings.

"Oh, this is _not_ good, guys," Pam said with dismay in her eyes. "It's like that suburban zombie invasion from _Dawn of the Dead!_ "

"Yeah, but without the zombies," Jaden added. But then they spotted the monster Three-Legged Zombies chasing Bon Bon slowly, limping like they're in a three-legged race. "…I stand corrected."

"DUCK!" At Rainbow's yell, everyone ducked to dodge a Cyber Falcon swooping down close to the group's heads. Nos then shot back up and shook a fist at the robot bird.

"Watch where you're flying, you half-witted bird!"

"This is certainly not _bueno_ ," Goth said as he helped Applejack up.

"Yeah, and even with this new gift of mine," Pam added, "I don't think I can handle _all_ of these guys alone." She then turned to the guys with an idea in her eyes. "But maybe if my wristband can work the way it did, _yours_ can too."

"Even so," Skrawl replied, "I highly doubt we can take all of them on; there's just too many of 'em."

"Yeah, and I've a feeling we might need to offer some of our monsters as tributes to summon stronger ones," Jaden added, "and who knows what will happen to us if we do that."

"'Offer as tributes'?" Applejack asked. "What in tarnation does _that_ mean?"

"Well, in the game," Chazz explained, "you summon Monsters in different ways. One of them is Normal Summon, that summon that Pam did with Chiron. You can summon Monsters Levels One through Four (depending on the number of stars its card has) no problem. But with Monsters more than four stars, you have to send your Monsters into the Graveyard (your discard pile) in order to summon them; that's what we call 'sacrificing' or 'offering as a tribute'. A Monster of Level Five or Six requires on Monster for a tribute, and a monster of Level Seven or Eight requites _two_ monsters."

"And a Monster of Level Nine or Ten requires three Monsters?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yeah," Pam answered, "but those are rarely used. Anyway, you guys have a good point with the number and the tributes." She then looked down at her Dueldisk's crystal to find the number 8000 on it in digital numbers. "And by the looks of it, these things also come with LP counters. If it reaches 0…I don't even want to _think_ what will happen."

"So why don't you just summon two monsters and offer them as tributes to summon the big daddy?" asked Rainbow.

"Because you can only Normal Summon one Monster per turn in the game," Jaden explained.

"I hate to break it to you," Spike replied, thumbing at the scene before them, "but this is _no_ game." As if on cue, Lyra Heartstrings ran by screaming as a Monster Eye chased after.

"What if each of two of you summons a Monster," Rarity asked, "and the third one offers them as a tribute to summon a stronger Monster?"

"That could work," Nos answered, "but like Jaden said, we don't know what will happen if we summon a stronger Monster. And like Skrawl said, we'll still be outnumbered."

"Not to mention you have to have that Monster in your hand in order to summon it," Chazz added.

"Wait," Pam said with a snap of her fingers, "I might have an idea." She then turned to Twilight. "Twilight, remember your brother Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's wedding, and he used a force field spell to keep the Changelings out of Canterlot? Did he teach that spell to you too?" Twilight's eyes lit up with a smile.

"He did, and Starlight knows that spell too. If we can combine our power, we'll create a strong-enough force field to push the monsters out of Ponyville and keep them out until we come up with another plan."

"But what if some of them—or worse, _all_ of them—dodge the spell?" asked Starlight.

"Then we'll take care of 'em," Pam answered, punching her fist into the palm of her other hand.

"I was afraid she was gonna say something like that," Skrawl whispered to Nos.

"I heard that!" Pam snapped, turning to them sharply. The Zoner immediately stood up straight and did the my-lips-are-sealed gesture to indicate that he's shutting up right now. Pam then turned back to Twilight and Starlight.

"Go ahead, girls, and hit 'em with everything ya got." With a nod, the princess and her student placed their horns together, and they began to glow their magical aura before it grew fast into a large sphere of puce and deep fuchsia that made the others shield their eyes.

When they opened their eyes again, the fifteen of them got good news and bad news. The good news is that the spell worked, pushing the Monsters out of Ponyville and forming a force field around it to keep them out. The bad new is that some of them dodged it and are now trapped _inside_. Fortunately, they don't seem to be any stronger than a Level Four.

"Okay, guys," Pam said, climbing onto Chiron's back with the centaur's help, "now it's _our_ turn. To have your wristbands become Dueldisks, just cry out, 'Duel Power, unlock'." The six with the wristbands nodded in reply before holding their arms out in front of them, determination in their eyes and the need to save the Ponies on their minds.

"DUEL POWER, UNLOCK!" At their simultaneous cry, the six wristbands glowed into silhouettes that grew into Dueldisks, each appearing to be made of a gemstone. Jaden's Dueldisk is red ruby, and Chazz's is a blue sapphire. Nos's Dueldisk is an orange amber, and Skrawl's is a green emerald. Goth's Dueldisk is a golden topaz, and Pythor's is a violet amethyst.

"Whoa…"

"Holy cannoli…"

" _Ai carumba_ …" Once everyone had snapped out of their awe, Pam, Chazz, and Jaden explained to their fellow Dueldisk-wielding comrades how their new weapons work. They even lend them their spare decks since they don't have their own.

"Okay, here's the plan," Pam then said after the guys have loaded their Dueldisks. "There's no telling how many of these Monsters are still in here." She then turned to the Ponies. "So we're gonna need some help. Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy? Since you're flyers, I'll need you to spot any we might miss from above." She then turned to Nos and Goth. "Goth and Nos? You fly with them to cover their backs for any flying Monsters that might attack them."

"A…Attack us?" Fluttershy stuttered fearfully.

"Don't worry, _senorita_ ," Goth replied assuringly. "Nos and I will keep you _salva_."

"Twilight and I can take care of ourselves," Rainbow said smugly.

"Better safe than sorry," Twilight replied, giving her a scolding glare and an elbow in the side. Pam ignored them as she continued her battle plan:

"Spike, you and the and the rest of the girls will be our extra sets of eyes down here on the ground. The rest of the guys and I will take care of the Monsters. If anyone sees a Pony in trouble, Spike or one of the girls get that Pony to safety while one of us takes care of the Monster. Got it?"

"Got it!" everyone replied in unison. She and Chiron then turned to the town still under attack.

"Alright, team…Let's do this!" And everyone charged forward into battle like an army against invaders.

 _If you're tumbling down_

 _And your spirit falls,_

 _Help's on the way,_

 _We hear your call! (Your call)_

 _On a mission,_

 _We're united as one,_

 _Friends forever, yeah,_

 _Here we come!_

In the air, the air team is doing its part well. While the winged Ponies looked for any Monsters and report to ground team via Twilight and Starlight's telepathy spell, Nos and Goth took care of the flying Monsters trying to attack them. For example, Nos took down a Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1, that was chasing Fluttershy with his Armored Bee. But before that, they discovered that he can cast Spells without Spell or Trap cards; Nos stunned the dragon with a ball of cyan ice shot out of his hand before summoning his bee.

 _In no time,_

 _We'll be at your side,_

 _We're a team_

 _On a roller coaster ride,_

 _Each one of us_

 _Knows just what to do,_

 _Never gonna stop (Gonna stop),_

 _Searching for you (For you)!_

Goth was making good use of his skills as well. When a Typhone (#1) tried to sneak attack Rainbow Dash from behind, the large bat air-tackled it and rode it into the ground below, like he did with the owl back in the city where he first met Shade and Marina. Then he summoned a Little-Winguard that slew its opponent with one swing of its sword. Although chagrined that she was rescued like a damsel in distress, Rainbow Dash was impressed with his skills.

 _Baby, listen to me,_

 _Searching for you (Oh, for you),_

 _We're gonna set you free!_

Meanwhile at ground level, the ground team is doing good also. While the baby dragon, two Unicorns, and the two Earth Ponies spotted some Monsters and got some endangered Ponies to safety, Pam the rest of the Duelists took care of the Monsters. Skrawl, for starters, saved Snips, Snails, and Pipsqueak from a Dark Assailant with his Celtic Guardian while Starlight and Pinkie got them to safety. But before he summoned the armored elf, the Zoner's new robot arm suddenly transformed into a metal-headed mallet, which he swung into the Fiend-Type's skull face to stun it. Skrawl wasn't sure _how_ he did it; all he did was think about his arm becoming the weapon, and it happened. Either way, he was more surprised when the boys exclaimed how cool and awesome he was…and slightly flattered.

 _Coming to the rescue,_

 _Get there in a hurry (Rescue),_

 _Baby, don't you worry (Rescue),_

 _This adventure's heating up,_

 _I'll rescue you,_

 _And if I do,_

 _You gotta rescue me!_

Pythor, like Goth, had used his skills to fight the Monsters as well. For starters, he used a combination of his invisibility and surprisingly some Fang Kwan Do (Pam guesses that he picked it up from Skales, the Hypnobrai General of Ninjago) to sneak-attack a Hayabusa Knight trying to attack the Cakes. As Pinkie and Applejack got the couple and their twin tots to safety, Pythor then summoned a Cyber Harpie Lady to take on the falcon-headed knight. He's not sure how the family of confectionary bakers would take to getting rescued by a giant white snake, but at least it's safe and out of harm's way.

 _So if you're lost,_

 _One thing is true,_

 _Never gonna stop looking for you!_

 _You're not alone,_

 _So have no doubt,_

 _Knows just what to do,_

 _We'll put our heads together,_

 _Gonna figure it out!_

The human Duelists were doing well too. Jaden took on a Mammoth Graveyard with his Elemental Hero Sparkman to save the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Chazz with his Y-Dragon Head took down a Feral Imp and saved Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

 _Oh!_

 _Baby, listen to me,_

 _We're gonna,_

 _Gonna set you free!_

As for Pam, she and Chiron saw an All-Seeing White Tiger prowling close to Cheerilee and the rest of her class and getting ready to pounce. Not wasting any time, Pam and Chiron rushed forward clobbered him with one swing of the magical centaur's staff.

Pam then watched after the Ponies as Rarity guided them to safety, unaware that a Toon Cannon Soldier's sneaking up on her. But before it could attack…

 _ **BAM!**_ Pam and Chiron turned to see that Pythor and his Cyber Harpie Lady jumped the cartoon machine before it could attack. Pam looked up at Pythor who just gave her a smiling nod.

"It is like I said before: chivalry _isn't_ dead." Pam blushed in reply. Pythor's quite the gentleman, just like in the Ninjago series.

 _Coming to the rescue,_

 _Get there in a hurry (Rescue),_

 _Baby, don't you worry (Rescue),_

 _This adventure's heating up,_

 _I'll rescue you,_

 _And if I do,_

 _You gotta rescue me!_

Within half an hour, all the Monsters trapped within the dome have been reverted into cards, and everypony is safe indoors. The fifteen heroes then gathered at Town Square to discuss their next plan of action.


	4. Chapter 3

Pam and Twilight watched as the last of their friends rushed into Town Square to join them and the others. Once all are present and accounted for, they got down to business.

"Okay," Twilight asked, "what's our current situation now?"

"All the Monsters that were trapped in here are now cards," Pythor answered.

"And everypony's safe behind locked doors," Spike added.

"And the force field?" Pam asked, looking up at it.

"Still holding," Starlight answered, "although I'll be honest…I don't know _how_ long." They all looked up and winced with fear as a Curse of Dragon charged into the force field, emitting a bloom of white from it when it struck.

"Twilight, how long do you think the force field can hold from yours and Starlight's combined magic?" Jaden asked, sounding rather nervous.

"I'd say about an hour or two," she answered, "hopefully more."

"Just as long as we keep on energizing it," Starlight added, "but that would probably stop when we run out of energy ourselves."

"Oh, girl, _please_ don't say things like that," Skrawl groaned.

"Okay, let's weigh our options _before_ we panic," Pam said. "We got an army of angry Monsters outside a force field that will probably hold for a few hours…"

"And still outnumbering us ten to one," Nos added.

"And no idea where they came from," Chazz stated.

"Wait, that's it?" Pam cried.

"What's it?" the others asked simultaneously.

"Well, it's just a hunch," she answered, "but if we find out where the source of these Monsters is coming from and take care of it, these Monsters might revert to cards."

"That's just _loco_ enough to work," Goth replied.

" _Loco's_ right," Rainbow stated. "Like Chazz said, we don't even know where they came from, let alone where their source is."

"We don't," Pam stated, "but we know someone who _might_ know." She then turned to Twilight. "Don't we, Twilight?" The lavender Alicorn got where she's going with this.

"But…are you _sure_ about that, Pam?"

"He can sense magical imbalances like you said before," the human girl answered. "Wouldn't _this_ count as one?"

"She has a good point, Twilight," Fluttershy replied.

"Okay, then," Twilight replied with a deep breath. "Let's hope he can make it through the force field." She then stepped into the center of the square.

"Give her some room, y'all," Applejack said as she, Spike, and the other Ponies ushered the others back away from her.

"Trust us o this one," Pinkie whispered to Skrawl with a wink.

They all watch as Twilight rose up on her hind legs, her wings spread out wide and her horn glowing with its pink aura. The out of the horn came a tiny twister of some kind that started growing to taller than Princess Celestia herself. They also saw all sorts of weird stuff flying around inside the twister: pigs with wings; Venus flytraps with fang-mouthed pies for heads; clouds made entirely of cotton candy…

 _I wouldn't expect anything more for his grand entrance,_ Pam thought to herself before the twister soon vanished…revealing the Master of Chaos Discord showering in his shower/tub with a pink-with-white-flowers shower cap on his head and a shower brush in his hand.

"You'll never kno-ow~" he sang, "how I watched yo—Whoa!" He cried out with surprise when he saw everyone watching him and pulled the shower curtain in front of him.

"Oh, goodness me," Nos replied, covering his eyes. "Sir, we are terribly sorry."

" _Torpe_ …" Goth murmured to Skrawl.

"If that's Spanish for awkward, dude," the large Zoner replied, "then I second that." Chazz then tried to cover Pam's eyes, but she blocked his hand.

"That wont' be necessary, Chazz," she assured him as Discord turned to Twilight with an annoyed glare.

"Twilight, that's the second time you called me over without warning me _and_ while I'm showering," he complained.

"Sorry, Discord," she replied with slight embarrassment, "but I called you over here because we've a situation in need of your assistance." Discord's glare changed to interest as he stepped out of the shower while wrapping a white towel around his waist.

"Oh? Well, what is it? Did Tirek bust out of Tartarus again?"

"No, he's still locked up," Rainbow answered.

"So…what's the problem?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Long story short," Pythor answered before pointing up at the force field, "that." Discord then looked up to see a Blue-Eyes White Dragon fire a White Lightning attack at the force field. Although the shield held, Discord cried out with surprise and jumped into Pam's arms like Scooby Doo.

"Watch it, ya overgrown albino!" he yelled at the dragon with a shake of his fist.

"Dude, that's a Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Pam said to him. Discord then turned to her and got a good look at her and the others.

"Wait…you're not Ponies," he said with an arched eyebrow.

"No, we're humans," she replied, nodding her head at Chazz and Jaden.

"Energy Vampire," Nos stated.

"Zoner," Skrawl went further.

"Vampyrum Spectrum bat," Goth added.

"Anacondrai Serpentine," Pythor finished.

"So basically," Pam said to the Draconequus, "we're not from around here."

"I figured as much," Discord replied as he got down from her arms. "So…somepony mind telling me what's with this new kind of chaos I wasn't invited to earlier?" So the others explained to him what has happened, making it as brief as possible. Pinkie Pie tried to herself, but Pam stopped her and explained to her that not everyone can catch what she's saying when she talks too fast for them to understand. When they had finished, Discord was quite surprised from the whole story.

"So you mean to tell me these seven here are going to save the day instead of you girls for once," he then said, thumbing at Pam and the others with a smirk on his face.

"Are you gonna help us or what?!" Twilight yelled with annoyance. The outburst made Chazz jump into Skrawl's arms with a cry, pulling off a Scooby Doo like Discord did with Pam. Pam however had to hold back a laugh; she can tell that Twilight's chagrined.

"I'm kidding, Twilight," Discord chuckled. "Take a chill pill." And with a snap of his fingers, an aspirin frozen in an ice cube appeared before Twilight, who caught it before rolling her eyes.

"Anyway," Discord said as he stretched out his arms and fingers and popped a couple of cramped bones, "Pam here was right on the money about me." As he said that, Pam surprisingly found herself lying on a large pile of Ben Franklins.

"You mean you can find what we are looking for?" Goth asked as Nos helped Pam up from the money pile.

"Of course. It's all in the aura."

"The aura?" Skrawl asked as he set Chazz back down.

"See," Discord then explained, "certain things like these Monsters attacking the force field hold a certain aura on them. By examining that aura, I can trace it to the source." He then looked up at the Monsters attacking the force field with a frown of thought. "Only problem is I'm gonna need something to read that aura from, and it looks like _these_ guys are out of the question."

"What about a Monster that has been beaten back to its card form?" Pythor asked, holding up the card of the Hayabusa Knight he has beaten to save the Cakes.

"That'll work." Discord then took the card as a stethoscope appeared around his neck. The others then watched as he used the stethoscope on the card as if searching for a heartbeat in it.

"Mm-hm…uh-huh…mmm…" A minute later, the Draconequus took the stethoscope off the card.

"Well?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"I've good news and bad news," he answered as the stethoscope vanished. "The good news is I found your source, and when Pam and the others find and destroy it, all these Monsters by my calculations should return to their card forms."

"Sweet!" Jaden replied with a smile. "That shouldn't be too hard."

"So where is the source?" asked Chazz.

"Well, that's the _bad_ news," Discord answered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Don't tell us it's outside the force field," Rainbow cried with a face-hoof.

"Don't worry; it's not." Everyone sighed with relief before Discord thumbed at Twilight's castle a few meters behind him. "It's within the subterranean of the castle."

"WHAAAT?!" Spike and the Ponies cried in unison. Pam and the others were surprised at the outburst.

"Something tells me we're going to need a lot of first-aid kits," Nos stated.


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry again for the long wait, but here's the next chapter you've been waiting for. Again, I only own Pam; everything else belongs to their proper owners.**

"I just don't get it," Pam said shortly after everyone had gathered into the throne room. "What's this about this 'subterranean' that's so bad? Or is it good?"

"Please say it's good," Skrawl prayed. "Please say it's good."

"Trust me, Pam," Discord answered her. "When I said 'bad news,' that means the subterranean's bad."

"Aw, crud!" Skrawl cried with a facepalm.

"Skrawl, not in front of the girls," Nos scolded.

"So what's so bad about the subterranean anyway?" Pam asked, ignoring them. But the girls only mumbled in reply as if too embarrassed to answer her.

"Come now, ladies," Pythor stated politely. "You can tell us. It's not like you don't even know what's down there." But the Ponies only frowned sheepishly and blushed with embarrassment in reply. That's when it dawned on them.

"You're kidding us right?" Chazz replied flatly. "You actually _don't_ know what's down there?"

"Then how do you know it's bad down there?" Jaden asked, obviously confused.

"Well, the thing is we don't know if it's bad or not," Twilight answered. "When the Tree of Harmony's chest became this castle after our victory over Tirek, Discord sensed a powerful aura within the doorway leading down into the subterranean. I sensed it too, but we don't know if it will be of use to us, or if it will be too dangerous for us to handle. So we put it off limits until further notice."

"I guess that's reasonable," Pam replied before becoming firm. "But I say we go for it."

"What?!" the others cried in unison.

"But, Pamela," Nos protested, "they said that it's dangerous."

"Nos, you're forgetting three _way_ more important things," Pam replied, holding up three fingers. "One, the girls stated that they _don't know_ if it's dangerous or not. So chances are it could be a giant monster with daggers for teeth and mirrors for eyes…or it could just be a bunch of obstacle courses. Two, we've beaten a whole bunch of Monsters about ten minutes ago with our new powers. If we can do it before, we can do it again. And three, Twilight can't hold the shield up and keep the other Monsters out forever, even with Starlight's help." As she stated this, Twilight winced with a grunt, her horn sparking like a live fuse.

"Unfortunately, she's right," she sighed. "I can already feel its toll on me."

"Pam, all we're saying is you could get hurt," Rainbow Dash explained.

"But if we don't go down there, Ponyville's gonna get attacked again," Pam countered. "I don't care if I get hurt down there, and I don't care if I have to go down there alone. I'm going down there and getting that power before it's too late." Pam then turned on her heel to leave.

"Quick!" Rarity cried. "Someone stop—" _**GRAB!**_ "Her?" Feeling someone grabbing her wrist, Pam turned to see that it was Pythor, who has a firm look on his face.

"No, you are not." Pam couldn't believe what he just said. Does he think he's her dad or something? She then started to struggle to free herself from his strong grip.

"Pythor, let go and stop being stupid!" she snapped. "What part of 'Before it's too late' don't you get?!" Pythor only pulled her to him and placed his free hand on her shoulder.

"You are not going down there alone because I'm going with you." Pam's anger softened into surprise. He wants to go with her?

"After the fight against Chen was won," he explained, "I made a promise to myself and to my ancestors to follow the ninja's example and protect those who cannot protect themselves. And after fighting all those Monsters and saving everyone, I still choose to keep that promise. And I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt down there especially after that Toon Cannon Soldier's sneak attack you almost got caught in. So I'm going down there with you to make sure you _don't_ hurt yourself down there."

Pam felt herself blush tickled pink. Pythor wants to go there with her to keep her safe. And he can't stand thinking about her getting hurt. Does he really care about her _that_ much to go down there with her?

"Hey, don't go hogging all the fun! I'm going too." Pam and Pythor turned to Jaden with surprise.

"I mean, if it wasn't for you, Pam," he explained, "we never would've found out how our new Dueldisk work, and Nos and Skrawl wouldn't have discovered their new powers. Besides all that, you're practically one of us."

"I'm with Jaden on that one," Chazz said, stepping up to his side. "And there's no way the Chazz is going to let a lady go and get hurt in some dark and cold subterranean. It's like Pythor said: whoever said that chivalry's dead obviously can't get himself a date for the prom."

"I second that," Nos said, floating to their side. "I may have been created by an evil emperor, but no one can help me realize how wonderful it feels to be a hero like you can."

"Same here," Skrawl replied, joining the Energy Vampire. "Back there was the first time someone regarded me as a hero instead of a monster. So I'm going to keep up that new image for ya and go down there to keep ya safe."

"I am going as well." They all turned to Goth before he started to explain. "I know you must've known about my past hatred towards humans, Pamela, because that group of humans you called zoologists took me and my brother-in-law Throbb away from our jungle home to study us. But all that changed after my last battle with Shade. After the waterfall, another group of humans found Throbb and me. Instead of taking us back to the zoologists, they healed and fed us before returning us to our jungle home in the south. Because of their considerate actions, I understand that not all humans are like those zoologists. So I am going with you to help as well."

Pam saw that Goth wasn't kidding. When she looked at the bottom corner inside of his wing, she saw that the hole he had there was sewn up into a scar. All it is now is a small white line, like a little scratch that's only one percent serious.

"Guys…" Pam looked at each of them with a small smile. They're really going with her to get that power that will save Ponyville. She's not alone in this after all. Her smile growing a hair, she wrapped her arms around Pythor's neck in a hug, much to the Anacondrai's surprise.

"You guys are the best," she said. Hearing those words, Pythor's face turned tickled pink before he slowly returned the hug with a small smile.

"Can we put the kiss on hold until after we save Ponyville please?" Discord asked, snapping the hugging pair out of it. Realizing what they're doing, they quickly broke the embrace with bright blushes.

"I…I'm so sorry," Pythor stuttered.

"No, it was my fault," Pam protested.

"Wait, hold the phone," Applejack said before turning to Discord. "Yer goin' with 'em?"

"Well, they're gonna need a guide that can sense magical imbalances down there," he stated.

"He's got a good point when you think about it," Nos stated.

"Mm-hm," Skrawl hummed with a nod.

" _Please_ don't say things like that," Spike begged. "Discord creeps me out when he makes sense." The chaos master rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Well, I agree with Discord about the guide part," Pam stated, "but I think the rest of you should stay here with Twilight. She might need you in case she's having trouble keeping the shield up."

"We understand, darling," Rarity replied with a nod as Fluttershy nuzzles Twilight in comfort.

"But who knows how long you'll be down there," Starlight stated. "We should at least do something to buy you more time."

"Princess Celestia," Twilight replied. "She can help." Pam and the guys turned to her with surprise.

"Twilight, are you sure about that?" Jaden asked. "I mean, we _still_ don't know if Ponies have that kind of effect on Monsters or if it's even safe."

"It's the only chance we got while I'm holding the shield up," the Alicorn stated, "and I don't have any Royal Guard of my own yet." The others can see that she's got a good point and isn't going to change her mind.

 _I guess we don't have much of a choice,_ Pam thought with a sigh.

"Alright," she said to her. "You send her the SOS while we head down there in the meantime, you stay here where it's safe."

"Got it," Spike replied, getting out a parchment and quill to write out the SOS to Princess Celestia.

"And in case anything should happen," Discord added with a snap of his fingers, "just press the screen with your hoof and call us." And before the Ponies appeared what looks like an iPad. Discord himself gets what looks like an iPhone.

"Alright, boys," Pam then asked. "Ready?" Discord and the boys nodded in answer. "Then let's move out!" And the eight of them rushed out of the throne room to the subterranean.

"Good luck," Fluttershy whimpered after them.


	6. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long wait, but here's the next chapter. I only own Pam, and the song belongs to Balto: Wolf Quest.**

It wasn't long before the group was standing before a blackish-violet door that supposedly leads to the subterranean.

"Seriously?" Nos asked flatly.

"I know it doesn't look it," Discord answered, "but this _is_ the doorway to the subterranean."

"I think he was talking about the sign _on_ the door," Skrawl stated, pointing at the door. The sign hanging on it said _Off Limits Until Further Notice._

"Oh, that," Discord replied. "Yeah, Twilight wanted to use another sign, but she was hopelessly outnumbered eight to one, much to her own chagrin."

"Let me guess," Pam replied with a knowing smile. "Her idea for the sign was more like a one-hundred word essay than a proper sign?"

" _Fifty_ words actually," he answered with a shrug, "but it was still too many words and still vetoed." Pam snorted back a laugh.

"So are we gonna go down there or what?" asked the impatient Chazz.

"Alright, alright," Discord answered casually. "Don't get your jacket in a bunch." He then disposed of the sign with a snap of his fingers and opened the door by its knob. When he did, a gust of wind blew out at the group, sending chills up their spines. Pam shuddered with her hands rubbing up and down her arms.

" _Ai carumba_ ," Goth growled, wrapping his wings close around his body. " _Odio el frio_."

"I don't blame ya, dude," Jaden groaned. "Even my turtleneck and jacket aren't helping."

"Who left the AC on down there?" Skrawl demanded in agreement.

"How long was that place off limits again?" asked the mildly annoyed Chazz.

"Hold on, gang," Discord assured them. "I got this." And with a snap of his fingers from both hands, a cloak appeared on each of them (including Chazz and Jaden), each the same color as his (or her) Dueldisk.

"Ooh," the now content Skrawl replied, snuggling into his cape. "Much better."

"This feels nice," Pythor agreed. "Is this alpaca?"

"What is this warm and cozy thing?" Goth inquired curiously.

"It's called a cloak," Nos answered, also enjoying this new warmth. "It acts like a second layer of fur for cold temperatures, and you can remove it when it gets too warm."

"Shall we then?" Discord asked, a flashlight appearing into his paw. He then led the group down into the darkness of the subterranean. They all stood close to the one in front of him (no stairway railings) until they've reached the bottom of the stairs.

The area they're now in seems darker than they thought. Pam even clung to Pythor nervously, even though she outgrew her fear of the dark. Hoping to help calm her down, Goth used his echolocation to see through the darkness.

"Anything?" Jaden asked.

"I've detected some strange stalactites and stalagmites," he answered. "Is this some sort of cavern?" Discord then held his light up at a "stalagmite".

"Those are columns, Goth," Pam explained. "They're kinda like stalactites and stalagmites, except they're connected to both the ceiling _and_ the floor instead of just either one." Nos then went up to the dull-colored column to examine the grooves spiraling around it.

"These grooves appear rather thick," he mused, adjusting his monocle. "About as thick as a snake's coil." He quickly turned to Pythor. "No offense."

"None taken," Pythor assured him. "I know what you're talking about."

" _Espera_ ," Goth suddenly said before taking a couple of sniffs. "Do you smell that?" The others sniffed around.

"Smells like oil," Pam answered. Back home, her father—or _adoptive_ father, for that matter—orders heating oil for cooler weather, so she's familiar with the smell.

"Is that a birdbath?" Jaden asked, pointing behind the column Nos was examining. Discord shined the light to the object, which is an ivory birdbath of some kind with a golden bowl. The smell appears to be coming from there. As Pam got closer, it got stronger. She then looked in to find liquid that's a dark shade of amber in the light of Discord's flashlight.

"This bowl's full of oil," she said. Discord then went up to her side to take a better look.

"Hey, I know this stuff," he said. Twilight has it in her lamp she got as a gift from one of the delegates of Saddle Arabia." Pam then took a closer look at the bowl's rim, finding markings on it in the light.

"There are markings on the rim," she said to Discord, "but I can't make them out." Discord then got out a pair of reading glasses and looked down at the markings.

"I think I can make them out," he said. "They keep on saying the same thing: 'Light your way'."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Skrawl asked. " _I_ don't even know where to _go_ down here." Pam then thought about it.

"You said this is lamp oil, Discord?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, it's just a theory," she answered, but if the subterranean's enchanted like you and Twilight said, what if we light it?"

"It's worth a try," Nos replied before snapping his fingers to have a small flame appear above his finger. He smirked at the little spell he conjured up himself.

"I can get use to this," he said as he floated over to the bowl. "You might want to stand back." Getting the idea, the others stepped back from the birdbath. Nos then lowered his lit claw down to the oil…and the bowl lit up like a small Olympic torch. They all then waited for something to happen…

Nothing.

"Well, so much for that—" Pam was suddenly cut off when something—or rather, some _things_ —snaked out of the bowl. They look like glowing snakes but without heads or tails.

"Ah!" Chazz cried, jumping into Skrawl's arms as the glowing snakes slithered onto the floor. "What are those things?!"

"I dunno," the Zoner answered. They all then held still as the glowing snakes slithered across the floor and past them as if to not touch them. Through her sneakers, Pam could feel their warmth, the kind of warmth you'd feel when you slip into a pair of cozy socks fresh from the dryer during a cold winter afternoon. Each of the glowing snakes then slithered up and around a column, fitting nicely through the grooves. When set in place and fully around the columns, they gave off light to light up the entire area.

Everyone was in awe when they saw the area in the light. It looks like some sort of room one would find in a palace. The columns were made of some ivory/marble mixed material, as was the ceiling full of carvings of the Elements of Harmony designed like kaleidoscope images. The floor seemed to be made of mirror pieces to make kaleidoscope images of the group's reflections.

But the walls were what really caught Pam's attention. They were made entirely of segments, each displaying an image made entirely of gems and/or stained glass pieces, like some sort of mosaic. Each mosaic displays an image that Pam seemed to recognize as epic adventures of the Mane Six and events that happened before them: Celestia's victory over Nightmare Moon; the Mane Six turning Discord back into stone (before his reformation); etc.

"Oh…my…gosh…" Pam said in awe, brushing her fingers along the smooth surface of a piece of sapphire. "It's like…a museum of Equestria's history…I didn't think the castle would have something like this."

"One has to step inside and light his or her way to see it, child," a male voice said as if out of nowhere. They all looked around for the source of the voice until they spotted a mosaic of Starswirl the Bearded and Scorpan, the gargoyle brother of Tirek. Upon spotting the mosaic, they saw the glowing apparition of a Pony phasing out of it.

"GHOST!" Chazz cried, jumping into Skrawl's arms again. A look of annoyance now on his face, the Zoner abruptly dropped him onto the floor.

"Will you cut that out?!" he yelled down at him.

Pam meanwhile was in awe by the Pony that stepped out of the mosaic. He's a white Unicorn Pony with a long flowing white beard and has on a wizard's hat and long robe-like cape, both a night navy color, covered with bright blue crescent moons and yellow stars, and decked out with golden jingle bells. No doubt that he is the famous Starswirl the Bearded.

"You're Starswirl the Bearded, aren't you?" she asked the apparition. The Pony nodded with a gentle smile.

"You know your wizards well, Pamela," he said to her.

"Well, of course, I know you," Pam replied with a smile. "You're practically the Pony version of Merlin the Wizard. You've mastered at least 200 spells, you have a library wi—Wait, how did you know my name?"

"I know plenty about you, Pamela," he answered, "and I know plenty about your friends. Even after all these centuries, I wish to help guide those who've yet to learn who they truly are."

"Who they truly are?" Pythor replied. "What's that suppose to mean?" Starswirl then held up his horn as it glowed a heavenly white, and the ceiling grew dark, warm colors like a sunrise or sunset sky. The others watched as little white pinpoints dotted the ceiling like stars, and white lines surrounded groups of them to form constellations and the pictures they were forming. There were constellations of Yu-Gi-Oh Monsters as well as constellations of warriors they've never expected before.

"You see, Pythor," Starswirl then explained, "long ago, I have sensed the your coming from your worlds into our own. And when you do, you're to follow your destiny to find out who you truly are deep inside."

Pam somewhat understood. If he knows about her, then he must know that she was adopted as a baby and now wants to know who she really is. She decided to push that thought aside so the others won't ask about it. She didn't want to talk about it anyway.

"But…why would they want to do that?" asked Jaden.

"Because each of you has a destiny within you that sets you apart from those around you," Starswirl answered, "although all seven of you are connected by one special destiny within our world. You all can fulfill your destinies together as one…" He then went up to Pam before gently placing his hoof over her heart. "As long as your hearts work as one as well." The constellations then began glowing above them.

 **Starswirl:** _You must go to the East_

 _Go to the West_

 _The path is rocky as the way is far_

 _It's a difficult trail_

 _A dangerous quest_

 _If you wish to know_

 _Who you truly are_

Discord seems to understand and decides to help out. Transforming his entire body into a constellation of himself, he took off and flew around the constellations, causing them to come to life and float around the group of seven in some sort of dance. Pam couldn't help but pet the constellation of a Silver Fang, which happily accepted it. To her, it felt like a warm aura like magic around her hand.

 **Discord:** _There are others all around you_

 _Who will comfort and will guide you_

 _Comrades and teachers_

 _Powerful creatures_

 _And the song that sings inside you_

But then some of the fearsome Monsters started to surround them, intimidating them. Pam even clung to Pythor as she listened to the Monsters' words.

 **Botanical Lion:** _Or you can turn back around_

 **Handcuffs Dragon:** _Run along home_

 **Mystical Sheep #1 & #2: **_Back to the place where your loved ones are_

 **Phoenix Girl:** _Perhaps that is best_

 **Harpy Lady Sisters:** _You need the rest_

 **Cosmic Queen:** _Who wants to go on some ridiculous quest?_

But then, the constellations of the warriors and more heroic Monsters floated between the intimidating Monsters and the seven. The intimidating ones shrunk back in fear, giving the group back its courage. Even Pam had completely forgotten the fearsome ones' words.

 **Elemental Heroes Avian & Sparkman: **_Unless you wish to know_

 **Dark Magician:** _You truly wish to know_

 **Monsters:** _Unless you wish to know_

 **Discord & Starswirl: **_Who you truly are_

The Monsters continued chanting as the room slowly returned to its mosaic museum state, Discord and Starswirl slowly appearing before them. The seven were still in awe from the spectacle as the song ended.

 **Monsters:** _Who are you_

 _Who are you_

 _Who are you_

 _Who are you_

 _Who are you_

 _Who are you_

 _Who are you_

 _Who are you_

"Wow…" Pam finally said before turning to Starswirl. "So as we help Ponyville, we'll learn something of ourselves we don't know about?"

"That is correct," he answered. "I am certain you know how you can do so as your first step?"

"To find this _gran potencia_ that will turn those Monsters back into cards, _si_?" answered Goth.

"Correct again," Starswirl answered before leading the group to another part of the area. There, they stood before a gem-covered double-door displaying a mosaic of the Elements of Harmony.

"Behind this door," he explained to the group, "you will encounter five obstacles that will test how well you work as one, the great power within the final obstacle. However, these obstacles will cancel out your magic and abilities to fly; even Discord cannot help you as he'll continue to guide you."

"Well, thanks a lot for the heads-up," Discord replied with annoyance.

"My apologies," the wizard explained with a slight shrug. "Even this castle wants to ensure no cheating on these tests."

"What about our new Dueling Powers?" Jaden asked. "Will they be canceled too?"

"Until the final obstacle, yes," Starswirl answered. "For some reason, the castle has sensed an intruding presence there as have I. So you must take the utmost of care."

"We'll keep that in mind," Pam replied. "Thank you, Starswirl." With a nod, Starswirl turned to the doors and placed his glowing horn on them. The cracks glowed around them before they opened all by themselves at a moderate pace.

"Wow," Chazz said as Skrawl whistled with impressiveness. "That sure beats a house key." Starswirl then stepped to the side to allow the group to pass through the doorway.

"Good luck to you all," he then said to them. "And remember: As you work together as a team, let your hearts be as one." As he said this, he faded away into little sparkles.

"Wow," Pythor stated. "He certainly knows how to make an exit."

"As well as a surprising entrance," Nos added, glancing at Chazz with a teasing glance at him.

"Shut up!" he growled.

"Alright, guys," Pam said. "Let's do this." And the eight of them stepped into the next room, the doors closing behind them once they're all inside.


	7. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the long wait; I wanted to think out the details and I was busy. Also, someone gave me an idea for the next obstacle that I'm thinking about trying. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.**

Meanwhile with Twilight and the others, Twilight and Starlight are still keeping the shield up the best they could. Their friends are offering as much help as they could to ensure that the shield stays up, bringing them food to eat or pillows to sit on. It wasn't long before Spike suddenly burped out a scroll.

"It must be from Princess Celestia," he said as he picked it up and opened it.

"What did she say?" Fluttershy asked hopefully as he read it.

"She said that she'll be over as soon as she can," the little dragon answered. "She had to gather a lot of troops first, so it's going to take a while. But she'll be right over nonetheless."

"Thank goodness," Twilight sighed as Rarity dabbed her sweating brow with a handkerchief. "We just need to hold the shield up until then."

"I just hope it won't take _too_ long," Rainbow stated as she held up a drink to Starlight, who drank out of it via straw.

"Wonder how Pam 'n' the others are doin'?" Applejack asked. Fluttershy then got out the device Discord gave her."

"I'll call to check," she said, gently pressing the screen with her hoof, making it glow with a blue light. "Discord, are you there?" A yelp was heard through the screen before Discord's voice answered.

"Fluttershy?" he asked. "Goodness, you're sneaky. You practically scared the pants off me." As if on cue, a pair of blue denim jeans ran past the group as if worn by the Invisible Man. Apparently, Discord left a tiny portion of his powers within the mosaic museum for such an occasion.

"Uh, sorry about scaring you like that, Discord," Fluttershy replied, trying to brush it aside. "But we wanted to know how things are at your end while letting you know that Celestia will be on her way soon."

"That's good to hear," Discord replied. "As for how we're doing on our side, well…I got good news and bad news. The good news is we just need to go through five obstacles to reach the great power, and the great power is at the final obstacle."

"So what's the bad news?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, the bad news is that the first obstacle wanted to turn up the heat…"

EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK

"…And not in a good way," Discord finished as flames shot out of the pool of lava before them. The room the heroes are in has a pool of lava that only reached five feet below the edge, and the doors to the next room is just across it.

"Turning up the heat is right," Skrawl stated, wiping the sweat off his brow with a "Whoo!" "Who left the volcano on in here?!"

"I know where I grew up is hot," Goth concurred, "but this is too hot for a furred flyer like myself."

"Speaking of flyers," Jaden asked, "you think you, Discord, and Nos can fly us over to the other side?"

"Easier said than done, Jaden," Chazz answered. "These obstacle course might've cancelled out their flying abilities as well as our other powers." Nos then brought out his wings, but they remained skeletal with red sparks instead of glowing with red energy. Goth tried to flap his wings to get into the air, but he still remained grounded. Discord did the same thing; nothing happened.

"Well, can't blame a guy for checking," Jaden sighed with a shrug.

"Great," Pythor sighed with a groan, "so how are we to get across this inferno pool?" Nos then looked at the trapeze and the other side of the lava pool, obviously thinking up a solution especially when they're at a safely high distance from the lava's flames. Pam was the first to notice it.

"What are you thinking, Nos?" The Energy Vampire turned to her before pointing out what he has in mind.

"Well, as you can see, the pool is too big for us to jump across, and there are no stepping stones for us to walk across. But I think if we can use those two trapeze swings, we can make it across safely…just as long as we're _careful_ , of course."

"Of course," Chazz sighed, turning to the lava pool rather uneasily.

"Actually, Nos might be on to something," Skrawl stated. "Two of us will swing on the trapeze, one on each swing. Then we'll have a third one on the other side of the pool. A fourth on this side will help each of the rest of us grab onto the first trapeze swinger, who will then swing him over to the second swinger, who will then swing him over to the guy on the other side. And that guy will catch him to break his fall."

"That might work," Pythor replied, "but…how will the last person here get across?"

"I'll take care of that part," Discord answered. "I'm quite acrobatic with or without my powers."

"Alright," Pam replied. "Pythor, since you appear to be long enough to catch whomever Discord tosses to you and throw over to the second swing, you take the first swing." The Serpentine nodded before Pam turned to Skrawl. "Skrawl, you take the second swing. Hopefully, your Armorph will be able to work and catch us just to be safe."

"I hope it'll still work too," Skrawl replied before blinking with surprise. "Wait…'Armorph'?"

"Yeah, it's an _arm_ that can _morph_ into anything."

"Okay, although that name has a nice ring to it, I _have_ to wonder where the heck you get all your crazy ideas from," Skrawl replied with his arms crossing his chest.

"I just make them up as I go along _and_ when the ideas just pop in my head," she simply answered with a shrug.

"Ooh, I'm liking her already," Discord replied with a grin that would make Pam chuckle with a slight blush. She then turned to Goth.

"And Goth? Since you're strong enough, I'm sure you can catch us when Skrawl tosses us to you."

"If I cannot fly," he replied, "let us hope I can still jump high enough."

"Please don't say things like that," Jaden requested, turning to the lava pool nervously.

The group then got to work on their strategy. Discord started out by putting his claw and paw together to make a cradle to give Skrawl a boost. The Zoner then jumped into the hand-cradle, and with an "Alee-oop!", Discord tossed him into the air, where he surprisingly did some aerial flips before successfully grabbing the first trapeze swing. Not ending there, he began swinging himself back and forth on the swing in his clenched fists.

"One for the money…two for the show…three to make it alive, and…here I _go_!" And on the last word, Skrawl swung forward and leg go, launching himself towards the swing. And with another set of aerial flips, Skrawl grabbed the second swing with ease.

"Alright, Skrawl!" Pam cheered as Discord held up a scorecard with a ten on it.

"Cheer for me _after_ we're all on the other side," Skrawl replied, moving himself on the swing so that he's hanging onto it by his legs.

"Alright, Pythor," Discord said, forming his hand, cradle again. "You're next up." With a nod, Pythor got on with his bottom coil. And with a repeat of Skrawl's attempts, the white snake made it onto the first swing with ease.

"Wow," Pam said with awe as Pythor wrapped his tail around the swing to hang upside down from it. "Who knew he'd be amazing on the trapeze…" Hearing this, Jaden, Chazz, Nos, and Discord turned to her with surprised eyes, making her blush with surprise at what she said out loud.

"I meant it as a compliment!" she cried in defense.

"Oookaaay…" Nos replied with an "Aaawkwaaard…" expression as Goth then stepped up into Discord's hand-cradle.

"Heads up, Pythor!" he called up to the Serpentine before launching the large bat up to him with all his strength. As Pythor swung his whole body forward on the trapeze swing, he caught Goth by his wrists.

"Ow! Goth, no offense, but you should _really_ file those claws of yours!"

"My apologies, _amigo_ ," Goth replied before looking down at the lava. "But _por favor_ , don't drop me."

"I won't…just as long as you don't make me laugh." He then swung the two of them with all of his strength until…

"Skrawl!" As he swung back while Skrawl swung forward, Pythor let got of Goth, launching him over to the Zoner who immediately grabbed him.

"I gotcha, G-man!" And swinging back with all his might, he swung Goth over to the other side of the other room where the bat landed safely and away from the dangerously hot edge. He then turned to Skrawl with an arched eyebrow.

"'G-man'?" he called after the Zoner still on the trapeze swing.

"Yeah," Skrawl explained. "The G stands for 'Goth'." The bat rolled his eyes as if to mentally brush it aside for the time being.

"Okay, Nos," Pam said as she turned to the Energy Vampire. "You go first." With a nod, Nos floated up to Discord, who then took him by the waist with both hands.

"Brace yourself," the Draconequus said to him before launching him up to Pythor, who caught him at the right moment but wasn't happy about the robot's grip.

"OW! Alright, seriously! What _is_ it with you guys and sharp claws?!" Nos only looked up at him with annoyance at his complaining.

"I may have been the one who inspired the plan," he stated, "but I wasn't expecting this, so I didn't have time to _file_ my claws, alright?!" Pythor only rolled his eyes before swinging him over to Skrawl, who caught him no problem. He then swung himself a bit before throwing the Energy Vampire over to Goth, who leapt up high into the air and caught him before landing back onto the floor.

"I certainly hope we don't have to do _that_ again," Nos said, nodding at the lava as the human-sized bat set him upright on the floor again.

"Something you and I can agree upon," Goth replied with a nod. The group then went on to getting Chazz and Jaden across the lava pool. The two boys got to the other side safely, especially with Nos helping Goth in catching them.

"Alrighty, Pam," Discord said to her as he picked her up. "You're up. And don't worry; there's no way your boyfriend will let you fall to your death." Pam turned to him sharply.

"Hey, I never said Pythor's my boyfrieEEEAUGH!" Pam was cut off by Discord tossing her up to Pythor, who caught her with no problem. She then looked up and blushed when she saw the Serpentine looking down at her with concern.

"Are you alright, Pamela?" he asked. "I thought one of us was going to miss the catch back there."

"Uh, yeah," Pam answered, trying to lower down her blushing. "Just…needed to slow down my heartbeat." Pythor only smiled down at her with comforting eyes.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "You'll be alright. Skrawl and I won't let you fall, and Goth and Nos won't let you hit the ground and get hurt." Pam then smiled up at him, feeling much better.

"Thanks, Pythor," she replied. "Just tell me when to let go." And with a nod, Pythor began swinging back and forth, gaining some momentum to throw her over to Skrawl. And a-one…And a-two…And a-three!

"Now!" Pam immediately let go and reached out to Skrawl, not daring to look down. Skrawl immediately grabbed her by her wrists, and she breathed out a sigh of relief as she held on tightly to his wrists.

"You okay, Pam?" the Zoner asked, making her look up at him as he looked down at her.

"Yeah," she answered with a nod, "but I'll never know how Indiana Jones was able to pull off these stunts without getting _himself_ killed."

"Just try not to think about it," Nos called out to her. "Don't worry; you're almost to the other side."

"Get ready to catch her, guys," Skrawl called out to him and Goth as he started to swing himself and Pam with all of his strength. They all got ready for Skrawl's signal. And a-one…And a-two…And a-three!

"Now!" Skrawl cried as he let go of Pam. She then flew towards the other side of the lava pool before Goth and Nos leapt up and caught her into her arms. They then landed on the floor before helping her down safely.

"Well," Goth said with a sigh as he brushed back his hair, "that wasn't so bad."

"For _you_ maybe," Pam sighed, her hand on her chest to calm down her fast-beating heart. "I swear that my life flashed before my eyes."

"How was it?" Nos asked.

"Besides this moment…pretty eventful," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Okay, guys," Discord called out to the group. "I'm heading your way now." Hearing this, the group on the other side quickly moved to give the Master of Chaos some room.

"Ready when you are, Discord," Pythor called out to the Draconequus stretching out his limbs.

"Just a sec," he replied. "Just gotta loosen up." Once he's all good, he stepped back to get some running space before sprinting forward and leaping up towards Pythor, who quickly caught him by his wrists.

"Whoo!" Discord breathed out before looking down at the lava pool below him. "Is it just me, is the lava getting hotter all of a sudden?"

"Actually, I think the lava _is_ getting hotter," Pythor answered, looking down at the lava with droplets of sweat cascading down his head-gem.

"Please tell me that's not because the lava's rising up," Pam whimpered. Nos looked down over the edge to check.

"Don't worry; it's not," he answered before looking up at the three on the trapeze swings. "But just in case, I think you three better get over here to the other side and _fast_!"

"Well, what are we waiting for, Pythor?" Skrawl called out to the Serpentine. "Throw him over to me!"

"On it," Pythor replied, swinging himself and Discord on the swing. And on the count of three, the white snake tossed him over to the Zoner, who caught him by his tail as Discord spun in the air like a pro trapeze artist.

"Whoa!" Discord cried as he looked down at the lava. "Don't drop me, big guy!"

"Hey, you were the one showing off a few seconds ago!" Skrawl replied, obviously annoyed.

"Never mind that!" Pam called out to them. "Just throw him over here!" So Skrawl swung with all of his might and launched Discord over to the other side, where he landed on his feet like a gymnast.

"Ta-da!" he announced with a grin.

"So you _were_ showing off back there?" Skrawl cried out to him.

"May-be…" Discord answered with a casual shrug.

"Dude, seriously!"

"Never mind that, Skrawl!" Pythor called. "Get ready to catch me!"

"Oh, right," he replied, turning back to the Serpentine. "Sorry!" Pythor then upright himself so he's hanging onto the swing by his hands before swinging himself back and forth to get some momentum. And with the right amount, he let go and threw himself over to Skrawl, who caught him at the right moment.

"Okay, guys," Skrawl called over to him as he swung himself and Pythor. "Here he comes!" And with his strength, he threw the snake over to the other side of the lava pool, where he landed safely. Pam quickly rushed over to his side.

"Pythor," she asked as she helped him up, "are you okay?"

"I'll be fine once _all_ of us are on the other side," he answered before turning to Skrawl. "Alright, Skrawl! You can swing over now!" He nodded in answer as he adjusted himself on the swing.

"Uh, Skrawl," Chazz said as he looked into the lava pool. "Not to pressure you, but I think you better hurry up and get over here."

"Why?" Pam asked, turning to him to see him pointing into the pool.

"BECAUSE THE LAVA'S STARTING TO RISE UP!" he cried out in a state of panic. Hearing this outburst, Pam looked into the pool. Sure enough, the lava was indeed rising up to the pool's edge in a painfully slow pace, like half an inch per minute.

"Oh, my…SKRAWL!" Pam turned sharply to the Zoner as he quickly swung himself from the swing and landed safely onto the other side to join the others. But they know that they're not out of the woods yet because of the rising lava. So they quickly rushed over to the doors…only to find them locked and not budging when Discord tried to push them open (they have no doorknobs or door handles).

"Wha…ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" As he realized that the doors aren't opening, Pam turned to the lava pool with an arched eyebrow all of a sudden.

"Guys?" she called in a calm but confused manner.

"Why aren't those stupid doors opening?!" Nos demanded, him and the others obviously not hearing her.

"I don't know!" Discord answered, shouldering the doors hard. "They're just…locked!"

"Guys…" They still didn't hear her as they tried to get the doors open.

"You're not pushing it hard enough, dude!" Skrawl boomed, shouldering the doors alongside the taller one. Chazz then started to panic, which is somewhat of a surprise to Pam.

"Oh, no! We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die!"

"GUYS!" They all jumped and turned to Pam who yelled out at them at the top of her lungs.

"What?!" they snapped simultaneously. She then thumbed over her shoulder to point out the suddenly changing lava pool.

"Am I the only one noticing that it's getting cooler in here and that the lava's suddenly changing color?"

The group then saw that she's right. The room is getting cooler to a more comfortable temperature, and the once red-and-yellow lava that's still rising is now glowing lavender, violet, and indigo. When the cool-colored lava reached the edges of the pool, there was a bright flash that forced the group to shield its eyes.

When the flash cleared, they all saw that the room has changed. The walls that were once stone like the walls of a castle dungeon are now crystalline, like walls of bright and dark amethysts. And the lava pool had solidified into an indigo marble floor with pearly white swirls. And the whole room was lit up with golden sconces on the walls with yellow/lavender flames.

"Wow," Jaden said in awe. "Didn't see _that_ coming."

"I guess this is what happens when we pass the obstacle," Pam stated.

"You know," Nos stated with his hands on his hips, "Starswirl could have at least given us—as you would put it—a heads-up about that sort of…sort of…" He started to wave his hand in circles as he tries to think up the right word.

"Uh…Jumpscare?" Skrawl asked. The robot clapped his hands together with an "Ah!"

"Yes!" he replied. "Jumpscare. _That's_ the word I was looking for. Thank you, Skrawl."

"No prob," he answered with a shrug.

"Well, you know what they say," Pam stated. "Expect the unexpected."

"Yeah?" Skrawl replied before pointing at the marble floor. "Well, we definitely weren't expecting _that_ , now were we?"

"Guys, we got the door open," Jay called. The three of them turned to see that the door has indeed opened up finally.

"Well, it's about time," Skrawl stated as they rejoined the group.

"Impatient much?" Nos asked, turning to him with an arched eyebrow.

"Dude, I'm worried about the others upstairs," Skrawl replied. "For all we know, the shield might've collapse by now to let those Monsters in."

"For everyone's sake," Pam said as they went into the next room, "let's hope not."


	8. Chapter 7

**Sorry again for the long wait, but here's the next chapter, and I'd like to thank one of my reviewers for providing me with this idea for the second obstacle. First off, I just want to say that I don't own anything or anyone in the fanfic except Pam; everything and everyone else belongs to their proper owners. Second, I need some ideas for the third obstacle. So if you could provide any ideas at all in your reviews, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, and enjoy.**

Dashing this way and that to dodge the Monsters attacking Celestia's troops, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence flew towards the force field covering all of Ponyville. When they got word that it's under attack, they teleported from the Crystal Empire to help, leaving Baby Flurry Heart with her nanny and hoping that their baby sister and her friends are all alright. Fortunately for them, they have their own force field bubbled around them for extra protection.

"Hang on, sweetheart," Cadence said to her husband. "We're almost there."

"Alright," Shining said to her. "When I lower the bubble and give the word, you know what to do." The pink Alicorn nodded in reply before taking a hold of his hoof. Seeing them getting closer to the force field, the white Unicorn stopped his own force field spell.

"Now!" At her husband's signal, Cadence activated her teleportation spell before they crashed into the pink/blue field, allowing them to appear inside of it. They then landed nimbly onto the ground and looked around.

"We made it through," Cadence stated, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah," Shining said. "Now all we've got to do now is find Twilight and the others."

"Prince Shining Armor! Princess Cadence!" The couple turned to see a blue Unicorn rushing towards them. It was Trixie, Starlight's friend.

"Trixie!" Shining said as the other Unicorn stopped before them and panted to catch her breath. "What happened? Do you know where Twilight is?"

"All I know is that these…Monsters were attacking the town until…Twilight and Starlight brought up the force field," she answered as she catches her breath. "I…I think they're at the castle."

"Alright. C'mon." And the three of them hurried over to Twilight's castle.

EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK*EDK

Back with our heroes, they had entered the next room, which is huge…huge enough to hold a fifty-square-foot maze! They saw that there are four entrances into the maze, and there's a cerulean pedestal before them with a plaque on it bearing writing.

"Aw, man," Jaden groaned. "How are we to figure out which path to take?"

"Maybe this plaque can give us some answers," Pam said, walking up to it. She then looked down at the plaque to read the writing on it out loud:

" _All lead to the same goal,_

 _But if you wish to go through there,_

 _You are to learn about your partner_

 _Which is why you must split into pairs."_

"What's that suppose to mean?" Skrawl asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I think we split into pairs," Pam answered, "and each pair takes one of these four paths. And the maze will have each of us learn about our partner. I don't know what we're to do in the end, but it's worth a shot."

But then, Pam began to worry about this idea. What if _her_ partner will find out about her being adopted and that she ran away to find out who she really is? Will they think less of her…after they had started to be like friends? She quickly shook her head to clear it.

 _It'll be okay_ , she tells herself. _I just won't tell my partner about it. But if the maze tells them about it, I'll just have to trust him with the truth. Hopefully, he'll understand and not tell the others._

They then decided on pairs. Nos is to go with Chazz. Jaden is to go with Skrawl. Discord is to go with Goth. And Pam is to go with Pythor.

Pam and Pythor blushed at each other at this realization.

 _Oh ,man_ , Pam thought to herself. _I'm going into one of the maze paths with a tall, white, and handsome snake…Wait, did I just_ think _that?!_

"Shall we then?" Pythor asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. She nodded before the two of them went down one path, and the other three pairs took the other three paths.

After walking through their path and making a few turns, Pythor decided to break the silence with Pam.

"So…you learned about me from a TV show in your world?" He knows it's a stupid question to ask to start up a conversation, but he's rather curious about that fact he learned from the human girl.

"Yeah, I did," she answered. "I bet it must be awful being the last of your kind alive…Your friends, your family…everyone you love dying from starvation or being victims of cannibalism."

"Y-Yes," Pythor admitted, hugging himself a bit. "That memory was traumatizing. Sometimes, I hear the screams of my tribe in my nightmares." Hearing this, Pam went up to him and hugged him.

"I'm sorry," she said to him as he looked down at her with surprise. "I didn't mean to bring it up." Pythor felt guilty before rubbing her back in comfort.

"You don't have to apologize," he explained. "I was able to cope. And thanks to the Ninja, the souls of my tribe can rest in peace forever." Pam then looked up at him with a smile before breaking the hug.

"Yeah, that's good to hear," she replied before the two of them walked down the maze path again.

"What about you?" Pythor then asked. "I'm certain your family at home must be worried about you too." Pam stopped at those words before looking down sadly.

"I'm not even sure myself," she replied softly.

"What do you mean?" the white snake asked, confusion obviously in his voice. "Are you saying you don't _have_ family?"

"Don't get me wrong," Pam assured him quickly, holding her hands up in defense. "I do. It's just that." She hesitated before explaining. "Before coming here to Ponyville, I started to run away with little hope of coming home." Pythor cocked his head to the side rather curiously.

"Why would you do that? Did they forget your birthday or something?"

"No, nothing like that," she answered with a shake of her head. "I've found out that I've been lied to my whole life. I don't want to talk about it though." Pythor just placed his head upon her shoulder and nuzzled her gently, making her blush.

"I understand," he replied softly. "I've a feeling it's too painful to talk about." Pam smiled in reply before placing her hand upon his other cheek and nuzzling back.

"Thanks, Pythor…" They stood that way for about half a minute before realizing what they're doing and quickly pulled apart with blushes. Pam brushed back her hair nervously as Pythor cleared his throat.

"Uh…we should…probably keep going…" he said with a bit of a stutter.

"R…Right," Pam replied before she started to walk alongside him to get through the rest of the maze.

 _Oh, my gosh_ , she thought to herself. _What did I just do? I couldn't help but get the feeling he was going to kiss me._

 _Sweet Ninjago, what was I doing back there?_ Pythor thought to himself. _I came close to kissing her._

The two of them didn't say a word as they continued on their way. About five to ten minutes later, they reached the end of the maze were the others were standing in front of a door like the one from the last room.

"Hey, there," Discord said with a short wave. "Didn't run into any trouble, did you?"

"No, we got through just fine," Pam answered, not feeling like bringing up her and Pythor's nuzzling. "What about you guys?" They all stated that it was the same with them.

"Man," Jaden said, "I thought it was gonna be like the lava pit."

"Well, it's a good thing that it wasn't," Chazz replied before the group turned to the door. They saw that a giant white lock is blocking it. But this lock has no keyhole and no combination dial. All that's on it is a tan square tile. The others then turned to the plaque on the short pillar in front of the door as Discord went up to it to read it.

"According to the plaque, this lock will unlock when each—and every one—of us places his (or her, in Pam's opinion) hand on the tile, which will ask a question telepathically that you must answer _truthfully_. If you do, a portion of the lock will vanish. But if your answer's a lie or just plain wrong, _you'll_ vanish."

"Aw, great," Skrawl replied with a face-palm. "We just jinxed it."

"Maybe not," Pam replied before going up to the tile and holding her hand up to it.

"Pamela, what are you doing?!" Pythor cried before she could place her hand on the tile.

"It's just a theory," she answered, "but if we had followed the advice of the first plaque, we may have a chance." She then pressed her hand against the tile before anyone could say anything.

" _Pamela of the humans, hear my question and answer truthfully_ ," a voice suddenly said in her head, her vision became a kaleidoscope of colors. " _How greatly did the destruction of his tribe affect Pythor?_ " Pam immediately answered and without a second thought.

"He claims it was traumatizing and that he can sometimes here his tribe's screams in his nightmares."

Her vision immediately became normal again, bringing her back to the lock. She then saw a part of it vanish, like someone cut it into eight equal parts like a pizza and took away a slice.

"Looks like my theory was right," Pam said as she took her hand off the tile and turned to the guys gawking at her in awe.

"Pamela, what in the world were you thinking?!" Nos cried, sounding like a father scolding his daughter before grounding her. "You could've vanished!"

"But I didn't, did I?" Pam replied. Nos just rolled his head a bit as if to roll his eyes (hard to tell when he doesn't have any pupils).

"But…how did you do it, Pam?" Skrawl asked.

"When I touched the tile, a voice asked me a question about Pythor, and I answered it," she answered before a thought came to her. "Didn't you guys hear what I said?"

"No," Goth answered. "When you touched _el azulejo_ , you just froze up for a moment."

Pam figured that she and the tile talked telepathically. If that's true, her secret will stay a secret. But what if the lock won't accept Pythor's answer about her?

"Well, I guess I can go next," the white snake said, slithering up to the lock. Pam turned to him as she stepped aside.

"Pythor, are…are you sure you want to do this?" The Serpentine immediately noted her concern about his turn and what she told him back in the maze.

"I'll have to sooner or later, Pamela," he explained. "It's the only way we'll get through."

"I know," Pam answered, a bit of a waver in her voice. "I'm just worried that…" She was suddenly cut off when Pythor kissed her on the forehead.

" _Hola!_ " Goth exclaimed with wide eyes.

"You said it, G," Discord chuckled, despite his also surprised as well.

"Don't worry," he said, smiling as Pam looked up at him with a surprised blush. "I'll be okay."

Pam just smiled back before taking his head into her hands and gently pulling it down to her level. Seeing this, the others gawked with surprise. And yet, they're trying their best to conceal their excitement.

 _Oh, my gosh! Is she really gonna do it?! Oh,_ please _, have her do it!_

"Well…" she said to Pythor, "at least take this for luck." And she kissed him…right on his head gem.

"Oh, so _close_!" Discord cried, causing Pam and Pythor to turn to him and the others with surprise.

"What was that?" Pam asked.

"Nothing!" Discord answered quickly as the others looked away rather awkwardly. Pam just shook her head before stepping back to give Pythor some room.

Pythor then turned to the tile on the lock and placed his hand on it. When he did, Pam saw that the black-slit pupils in his eyes just vanish, leaving him with completely blank fuchsia eyeball. He stood frozen for about ten seconds before his eyes returned to normal and another eighth of the lock vanish. Sighing with relief, Pam went up and hugged Pythor.

"I was so worried," she whimpered into his chest. Pythor only hugged her back with a smile.

"Hey, I told you I'll be okay, didn't I?" he replied. "Then again, your good-luck kiss probably helped out as well."

"Although it would've been better if it were on the lips," Skrawl whispered to Nos before the two of them snickered.

"I heard that!" Pam and Pythor cried simultaneously, turning to the two sharply to make them shut up.

The others then went up to the lock one by one to give their answers about their partners. They each froze with eyes completely blank like fresh sheets of printing paper, and when they returned to normal, an eight of the lock would vanish.

Before long, the lock was completely gone, and the tile the last eight of the lock fell towards the floor. As it did, the tile started to glow green, like the kind of green you would find in a lapis lazuli. When the tile hit the floor, the new color seeped out and spread across the floor like juice when you drop your glass. The others then watched as the spill started to spread fast across the entire floor and under the maze. Then it gave off a bright flash to make the group shield their eyes.

When they opened their eyes again, they saw that the maze was gone, transforming the entire maze-room into a huge stadium area with floors and walls with swirls of green like a lapis lazuli. And the crimson sconces on the wall are holding red/green flames.

"Well, that was a bit _too_ easy," Discord replied, "not like the first obstacle."

"Guys, I think I figured out what this obstacle's about," Pam replied. "It's supposed to be testing our trust in each other."

" _Confianza_?" Goth asked.

"Yeah," Pam explained. "When we paired up, we each told our partner something about ourselves, therefore trusting them with the truth. And the lock saw that we were trusted with the truth from our partner."

"That…makes sense," Nos replied with a bit of thought about it. "It makes me rather glad to have trusted Chazz."

"Yeah," Skrawl said as he ruffled Jaden's hair, "and Jay here really made me feel better when I told him about my rough life."

Pam just turned to Pythor with a smile. She was glad that she talked to him a little bit about what happened to her before she ended up in Ponyville. And she's _extra_ glad that she didn't have to give him the specific details of her running away from home.

But what she doesn't understand is why. Why did the lock accept Pythor answer to its question the way he answered it? Could it want her to tell the others on her own?

Upon hearing the doors open, Pam decided to just leave it be for now. They have to hurry through the next three obstacle courses before it's too late.


	9. Chapter 8

**Here's the next chapter with the third obstacle. FYI, I want to remind you that I only own Pam and nothing else. They all belong to Konami, Hasbro, etc. Please enjoy.**

Cadence, Shining Armor, and Trixie immediately rushed into the throne room where they found Spike and the other Ponies tend to Twilight and Starlight still keeping the shield outside up. Twilight turned to see her beloved brother and sister-in-law rushing over to her and smiled.

"Hi, Shining," she groaned with a wince. "Hi, Cadence. Sorry you two had to come visit me at a bad time."

"Twily," Shining said, rushing up to her side. "Are you okay?"

"If you mean besides holding up this shield to keep the monsters out, then yeah," she joked with a smile.

"Even Trixie knows _that_ isn't true through sarcasm," the blue Unicorn stated. "You both look like you're about to fall into a coma from magic overload."

"We know," the others replied in unison.

"I'm not exactly sure how long we can hold this thing up," Starlight confessed.

"Don't worry," Cadence replied. "We're here to help. Trixie, you help Starlight; Shining and I will help Twilight." Trixie gave a nod.

Trixie then went over to Starlight's side, and Cadence and Shining went over to Twilight's. They then placed their horns on the aching ones, and their auras mixed together before shooting into the sky, not breaking the roof of the castle as they did. They struck into the shield outside, and it grew more colorful and powerful. It even enraged the Monsters it stung painfully.

Back inside, the others breathed out sighs of relief. Now that Shining, Cadence, and Trixie are helping out, the others have more time to try to get to that great power. Upon that realization, Fluttershy's head shot up with another realization.

"Goodness," she said to her friends. "We should let Pam and the others know that Shining, Cadence, and Trixie have gained them more time."

"Who?" Trixie asked, careful not to lose her concentration in lending Starlight her strength.

"They're new friends of ours looking for the answer to our problems down in the castle's subterranean," Rarity explained.

"Uh, isn't that off limits until further notice?" she asked, concern obviously in her tone.

"Well, we thought it dire enough to use for an emergency considering our situation going on outside," Spike explained. There was a bit of a pause before Trixie replied.

"Good enough for me."

With that squared away, Fluttershy turned on her communicator and prayed that Discord will answer. It took only a few seconds when he did.

"Hello? This is Discord speaking."

"Discord, this is Fluttershy," she replied with relief. "I'm calling to give you and the others good news. Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and Trixie came over to lend their magic to Twilight and Starlight. Now you have more time to get the great power."

"That's great news," Discord replied from the other end, "cuz I think we're gonna need it."

"The obstacles aren't _that_ difficult for you, are they?" Trixie asked. After that incident with Queen Chrysalis, she has started to get along well with Discord. Riding those winged pigs were _actually_ rather fun.

"Don't get us wrong, Trixie," Discord answered assuringly. "We're doing pretty good so far; we've already made it through the first two obstacles…"

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"It's this third obstacle course we're worried about."

Discord certainly wasn't kidding. The next area they've entered looks like a large-enough castle garden…if that garden castle belonged to Dracula's Castle. The place has random statues of Yu-Gi-Oh Monsters dotting the area within the thorny bushes full of blackish-red roses. Even Skrawl jumped with a yelp before holding up his Armorph that transformed into a mini-bazooka.

"Dude," he stated, his aim not leaving the statue of a Harpy Lady, "I just saw that thing move!"

"Skrawl, just calm down," Nos assured him. "It was just a shadow; they make these things _look_ like they moved."

"Oh, trust me, they're alive," a low voice with a Manhattan accent said to him. "They're just waitin' for ya to move before attackin'." The group turned to the front of it to find a Winged Kuriboh, an Ojama Black, an Ojama Green, and an Ojama Yellow floating before them.

"Whoa!" Skrawl cried before holding his Armorph at them. "Freeze!"

"Skrawl, no!" Pythor cried, placing his hand on the Zoner's weapon to make him lower his weapon as the frightened Monsters flew behind Chazz and Jaden.

"Don't let him hurt us, Boss!" the Ojamas cried to Chazz.

"'Boss'?" Discord, Goth, Skrawl, Nos, and Pythor said in unison, looking at Chazz and Jaden with reply. Pam then snapped her fingers when it hit her.

"Oh, of course," she said as she turned to the little Monsters. "You're Chazz and Jaden's Monster Spirits, aren't you?"

"We coitainly are," Ojama Green answered, peeking his head up from behind Chazz's left shoulder and speaking like Curly of the Three Stooges.

" _Espíritus de monstrous_?" Goth asked, arching an eyebrow at Pam.

"They're these Spirits within Monster Cards that Chazz and Jaden have as partners/guides," Pam explained. "Winged Kuriboh is Jaden's Monster Spirit, and the Ojama Trio are Chazz's."

"So you're telling me Chazz and Jaden are friends with that cute little furball with wings and three little alien dudes wearing Speedos?" Skrawl asked, giving them weirded-out looks.

"They _better_ be Speedos," Nos added with a scolding frown.

"Don't worry," Chazz assured him quickly. "They are."

"Good," the Energy Vampire replied, "because if they were briefs, this would be awkward for me."

"Aw, dude!" Pam cried with disgust. Discord agreed with her by shuddering with a groan, and Skrawl agreed by holding his mouth with a sickening belch.

"That was just wrong on _sooo_ many levels," the Zoner groaned as he glared at Nos, who then shrugged to say sorry. A thought suddenly hit Pam.

"Wait," she said before turning to Winged Kuriboh and the Ojama Trio. "Did you guys say that these statues are _alive_?" Winged Kuriboh nodded with a coo.

"And they're waiting to attack you too if you try to get to the door on the other side," Ojama Yellow added, pointing to the other side of the garden. Pam turned to side he's pointing at and saw the double-doors that look like tall garden gates made of emerald vines and ruby roses.

"Aw, great," Pythor groaned as he and Goth each did a face-palm.

"Hey, don't worry, guys," Skrawl stated with some confidence. "Nos and I'll just blast these guys." Nos felt like he can agree with the Zoner. If his Armorph can still work, so can his magic. He probably thinks they've been weakened so he couldn't fully freeze up that lava pit or blast his and Chazz's way through that maze.

The two of them then fired their attacks at two statues. Skrawl fired his mini-bazooka at the Harpy Lady statue, and Nos fired a fist-sized fireball at the statue of a Monster Egg. When the smoke cleared however, they were surprised _and_ shocked to find the statues still intact. There's not even a single scratch on them.

"What the—?" Skrawl started with shock.

"Uh, yeah," Ojama Black then explained. "That's gonna be a problem. See, these statues are enchanted with magic to only allow _Duel_ _Monsters_ to destroy 'em."

"And you didn't tell us sooner _why_?" Nos demanded, hands on his hips and an annoyed glare in his monocle eye. Pam can tell that he's _really_ annoyed.

"Hey, we didn't know you were gonna attack like _that_ ," Ojama Green protested. "You guys just went and did so before we could say anything."

"He's got a point, ya know," Pam stated with a hesitant shrug, although she's just as annoyed as Nos and Skrawl are.

"You _are_ aware that we cannot Summon any Monsters until we have reached the fifth and final obstacle, are you not?" Goth asked, trying his best to keep his cool.

"Goth's right," Discord groaned, his lion's paw over his eyes with mild frustration. "We are sooo doomed."

"Oh, no, you're no-ot~" Ojama Yellow sang.

"What are you talking about, Yellow?" Chazz asked, turning to him with an arched eyebrow. The Ojama Trio and Winged Kuriboh then floated over to an altar at the side of the entrance they came through. It looked to be made of white marble, and on it was a row of seven clear slabs, each with a different symbol on it: a flame; a twister; a sun; a yin-yang; a mountain; a water droplet; and a crescent moon.

"Huh," Pam replied. "Didn't see that there. Probably because we were too busy admiring the garden."

"Either way," Pythor asked, "what are these slabs for?"

"These are the answers to your problems," Ojama Yellow answered. "Each of these slabs will change one of you into a Duel Monster, and it will help you fight these statues."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Skrawl replied, holding his hands up in defense. "Time out, and back up! Change us into _Monsters_?! That's insane! Probably permanent too."

"Nah, it's temporary," Ojama Black assured him. "You'll all be back to normal when you've completed the obstacle, and _that's_ when all seven of you are touching the doors at the other side."

"So with these new forms," Pam asked, "we can fight off these statues and get through?"

"That's right~" the Ojama Trio sang in unison.

"There's just one rule to that though," Ojama Green added.

"Is a good rule," Pythor asked with a glare of concern, "or a bad rule?"

"That depends," Ojama Yellow answered. "How does one of you feel about Fusing with Discord?"

"Fusing?" the confused group replied with confusion.

"Yeah," Ojama Black explained before floating towards the slab with the yin-yang. "See this here slab? It acts like a Polymerization Card; when you and Discord use it, ya'll Fuse into one Monster."

"Does that explain why there's only _seven_ slabs instead of _eight_?" Pam asked, sounding like she's trying get it all straightened out.

"In a word," Ojama Yellow answered before his black and green brothers joined in, "yes."

"Sounds reasonable," Pam replied with a shrug. The others murmured in agreement at the point taken.

"So…who's gonna Fuse with the Chaos Master that's me?" Discord asked. Pam stepped forward before anyone else can answer.

"I'll do it."

"Seriously?" everyone replied in unison (and did Pythor sounded a little jealous there?). Pam only turned to them in reply.

"If we can handle being Monsters to fight these statues, then I can handle Fusing with Discord," she answered. "Besides, I don't wanna waste time with a flip of a coin, straws, or even rock, paper, scissors, even with the extra time with gained."

"I agree," Discord answered, holding up a handful of straws made of chocolate wafers. "I'd hate to waste these delectables."

"Where did you get those?" Pam asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Eh, Pinkie Pie gave them to me," Discord answered with a slight shrug. "Apparently, her Pinkie Senses told her I meant venture somewhere where I'll temporarily lose my powers, so she gave them to me in case I run into a glass of regular milk."

"That's Pinkie Pie alright," the others replied in unison.

After Discord put his straws away, they moved up towards the slabs. Jaden chose the flame, and Nos chose the twister. Goth chose the sun, and Skrawl chose the mountain. Chazz chose the water droplet, and Pythor chose the moon. And Discord and Pam went for the yin-yang.

"Okay, on the count of three," Pam instructed. "One…two… _three!_ " And all eight of them touched the slabs simultaneously, and the slabs gave of a flash of light that caused Winged Kuriboh and the Ojama Trio to shield their eyes.

When the light vanished, seven Duel Monsters stood before the four Monster Spirits. However, if you were _anything_ like them, you would see the eight astral forms of the group. Jaden is Volcanic Slicer, and Chazz is Uminotaurus. Skrawl is Cybernetic Cyclopean, and Nos is Winged Sage Falcos. Goth is Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke, and Pythor is Rapid-Fire Magician. And Discord and Pam together form Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight.

" _Whoa!_ " Jaden cried, looking himself over with a huge grin. "Check me out!"

" _Well, this is an interesting look_ ," Nos said as he looked himself over.

" _Dude, I think I got a target in this eye!_ " Skrawl laughed, pointing at his glowing yellow-green eye.

" _Huh, wasn't expecting to be an Aqua type_ ," stated the somewhat impressed Chazz.

" _So this is what it feels like to be_ el sur humano," Goth said, looking over his human ninja body.

" _Now_ these _are better than those Fang Blades_ ," Pythor stated, admiring the two wands in his hands.

" _Wow, Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Night!_ " Pam said with delight as she and Discord looked their new form over.

" _So I'm a dragon now?_ " Discord replied. " _I'm liking this already._ " Their Fusion Monster form then turned to the statues with determination.

" _Alright, guys,_ " Pam said to the others. " _Let's rock!_ "

" _Did you just make a pun there?_ " Discord asked, failing to hold back his laughing as he pointed at the statues. Realizing this, Pam gave herself a face-palm.

" _I can't believe I did something that someone likes without realizing it,_ " she groaned. "Again!"

" _Really?_ " Goth asked. " _What happened the_ last _time?_ "

" _I'll tell ya when this is over_ ," Pam answered. " _But for now…ATTACK!"_ And the group charged forward.

The battle was truly an awesome one. Jaden took down a couple of statues with his fireballs and claws. Chazz sliced down his opponents with a one-armed swing of his clam-bladed axe. Some statues crumbled from punches in the face from Skrawl. Some were blown away with a strong windy beat of Nos's massive wingspan. Even Goth was impressed with how he took down the statues with his ninja moves and large-bladed _kunai_. And Pythor was having a blast blasting his opponents with multi-colored orbs fired from his two wands.

Pam and Discord were having a blast as well with their Fused form. As Pam hit the stronger statues with spells, Discord helped out with dragon fire. Then again, they were probably able to handle the stronger statues because their Fusion form has a strong attack power (according to its card).

It wasn't long before the entire group reached the group. Thinking that the statues might come back or worse multiply from their remains, Pam immediately took action.

"Guys, we all need to touch the gate now and fast," she said, placing her hand on the gate, "before anything else happens."

"But, Pam," Jaden started, "we won. Don't you want to—"

"Just do it!" Startled by her sudden outburst, all seven males simultaneously placed their hands on the gate fast, making it give off a flash of light.

When it vanished, the group saw that it was back to its original forms again. And the garden has changed! Instead of a haunted garden at night fit for Dracula, it is now a beautiful garden at noon fit for Alexander the Great. The Monster statues were replaced with artwork that should be displayed in the Louvre of Paris or New York City's Museum of Modern Art. The rosebushes no longer have their thorns and have turquoise leaves. And the blackish-red roses are now cerulean and/or sunrise orange.

"It's a good thing you told the guys to touch the gate fast when you did, Pam," Ojama stated admirably. "I saw those pieces of rubble starting to move and started to fear for the worse."

"Wha…" Discord replied as they all stared at them in shock. "Pam, you weren't even looking over your shoulder. How did you know about those rubbles moving?"

"If there's one thing I've learned from _NCIS_ 's Jethro Gibbs," she answered, "it's to always trust your gut."

"Try not to tell that to my brother-in-law," Goth muttered to himself. The others only laughed as they turned to the opening gates. As they entered them, they can feel themselves getting closer to their goal as two more obstacles remain.

 **Only two more obstacle to go! I've already have the last one figured out. But if you can think of what I can do for the the fourth obstacle (maybe to do with Discord's chocolate straws), please send it to me through your reviews. Thanks.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Here's the fourth obstacle. Just so you know, I don't own anything or anyone except my OC Pam. In addition, the little part in the end is suppose to be a bit of a parody/joke I've thought up, so I don't own that either. They all belong to their respective owners. Enjoy.**

Outside of the force field protecting Ponyville, Princess Celestia and her troops were fighting off the Duel Monsters the best they could. The Pegasi soldiers took on the flying Monsters. On the ground, the Unicorn soldiers fired spells and wielded swords via levitation spells. And the Earth Pony soldiers backed them up with bows and arrows.

Celestia was also helping out as well. As an Alicorn, she has powerful spells stronger than her Unicorn soldiers combined…although they're possibly not as strong as Discord's.

Either way, Celestia doesn't seem to mind. Fighting these Monsters may have reminded her of the battles she fought in the past—the worst being her battle with Nightmare Moon (alias her baby sister Luna)—but this present battle is reminding her of her sole purpose in fighting along her army: to help her student-turned-fellow-Princess-and-friend who's keeping out the Monsters with the force field. And she needs to buy her new friends more time to find the great power that will stop these Monsters.

As she took down a Bitelon with a blast of her horn, she sighed with relief as the blast reverted it into a card. She was surprised that her Alicorn magic's capable enough to take down these stronger creatures, but she didn't let it get to her due to the dire situation. She just wished she could share this information with Cadence and Twilight if she wasn't occupied at the moment, but they're probably busy trying to keep the force field up. She can only hope that Discord and the new heroes reach the great power before she overworks herself into exhaustion.

 _Discord_ , she thought to herself in prayer. _Young heroes…Please be careful down there_.

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"Oh, you _got_ to be kidding me," Discord groaned.

The fourth (and large) obstacle was divided into five sections to make one deadly obstacle course in which one small slip-up will result in death. The group stood on a platform large enough for them to move about, overlooking the football-stadium-sized room going fifty feet deep and the ceiling fifty feet above their heads. And at the other side of the area is the doorway to the final area.

Each of the five sections looks like something out of a Field Card. The first section looked like the Rising Air Current, larger eagles and falcons zipping through the section from the left and from the right. The second section looked like the Gaia Power, a large tree going from the ceiling to the ground below with vines hanging downward for the others to swing on and keep the swingers from falling to their deaths. The third section looked like the Skyscraper, two rows of skyscraper-like buildings that look as though their windows could open up and fire at whoever flies through them. The fourth section looked like the Molten Destruction, a large volcano with chunks of lava-rocks flying out of its top. And the last section looked like Umiiruka, large waves crashing and wild enough to give surfers _too_ much of a thrill.

"I think I preferred that lava pit back at the first obstacle," Skrawl stated with a sweat-drop.

"Those waves _better_ not be invested with sharks," Chazz concurred. "That's all I gotta say."

"This just isn't our day, is it?" Nos groaned.

"We can't just stop now, guys," Pam stated. "We're almost to the great power."

"But, Pamela," Goth asked, "how are we going to get across? We can't fly. Nos could barely use his magic while Discord couldn't use his powers at all…No offense, _amigos_."

"None taken," Nos and Discord replied in unison before the bat continued.

"Skrawl's Armorph probably can't go _that_ far…no offense to you either, _muchacho_."

"Meh, I kinda agree with ya on that one, G," Skrawl answered as he glanced down at his Armorph. Goth then finished pointing out the situation.

"We can't get to the bottom without killing ourselves…And worst of all, we can't summon Monsters. How are we supposed to get across?"

"With those!" the Ojama Trio cheered, pointing at something that Winged Kuriboh flew over to. Just touching the edge of the platform were four large hover-boards, each with a saddlebag of some kind. There's also a scroll before them that Pam then picked up and unrolled.

" _These hover-boards will help you across to the other side_ ," she read out loud to the others, " _and in each saddlebag is a tool that can help you through one of the sections of the obstacle. But be warned; you can only use said item_ once _. Therefore, use each item wisely._ "

"Are you kidding me?!" Jaden cried. "There are _five_ obstacles, and we only have _four_ items?! How do we know what to use?!"

"I'm not finished~" Pam sang to indicate her friend's rudeness.

"Sorry," the brunette replied sheepishly. "Just freaked out a little." Pam then continued before turning to what looks to be a tube in the platform. It looks like the kind of tube you would send messages from one office to another with a note in a cylinder. There also seems to be a quill on the cover.

" _In addition, the saddlebags will change the contents within them based on your decision. One section as you may have figured out already will_ not _be having an item used in it. Before beginning, write down the number of the section you won't be using an item into the scroll, and slid the scroll into the tube. Once you do, the saddlebags will decide the items for you_."

"So we just need to decide on which section we'll be skipping," Nos replied. "But the question is: Which one?"

As the group pondered and talked a bit, Pam took a glance at the hover-boards to mentally insult them for making things difficult for them. But she stopped when she noticed something about them. They look so…smooth…and shiny…almost like…

"Mirrors…" That's when her held jolted up like a shock just shot through her brain.

"Guys," she said, turning to the others. "We should skip the third section."

"Say what now?" Skrawl, Nos, and Discord replied in unison.

"I think Pam's got a point," Jaden replied, looking at the buildings. "It looks the safest."

"Are you kidding me?" Chazz stated. "They could open up and fire at us with guns. We'll be blown out of the sky…literally."

"I think the same thing about those buildings, Chazz," Pam stated before looking down at the hover-boards. "But I've an idea on how we can still get through them."

"I think we should go for three as well," Pythor stated, looking down at the hover-boards also and getting where Pam's going with this. "Pam hasn't led us astray _so_ far."

"Is that supposed to be your attempt to get Pam to kiss you?" Discord asked the Serpentine with a teasing smirk.

"DISCORD!" they all yelled at him to make him jump.

"I'm kidding!"

"Just what exactly are you planning, Pamela?" Nos asked her.

"Once I give the command," she answered, going up to the tube and quill, "we do it." She then picked up the quill, wrote the number three on the scroll, and rolled it up again. Then she removed the cover and dropped the scroll into it, where it vanished. When it did, the saddlebags glowed for a while before stopping.

They then boarded the hover-boards (two per board) and looked into the saddlebags. Chazz and Discord's item is a _shuriken_ shaped like a snowflake and made entirely of ice. Goth and Jaden's item is an orb with a surfboard inside. Nos and Pam's item is a pair of gloves with swords on them. And Pythor and Skrawl's item is a small twister in a bottle.

"I think I have a good idea on what to do with these," Pam said to them. "When I say your names, a pair of you will use that item. Got it?"

"Got it," they replied in unison as the hover-boards clamped onto their feet (or coils, in Pythor's case) to ensure they don't fall off.

"And stay close to each other just in case." With that agreed upon, they fired up their hover-boards and sped off towards the eagle/falcon swarm.

"Skrawl! Pythor! Your bottle!" Skrawl then pulled out the bottle, and Pythor pulled the cork out. The twister flew out of the bottle and grew surprisingly big surprisingly fast. It then spun around the group within its vortex, keeping the carnivorous birds from crashing into them.

Within a minute, they were through the swarm and heading for the giant tree. Pam immediately saw the vines come to life and lashed out towards her and Nos who are in front of the group.

"Nos! The gloves!" Nos immediately got them on and lashed their swords at the vines to fight back. The cut vines then cowered back as if in pain, allowing the others behind armed hover-board to speed past them.

Within a minute, they were through the vines and heading through the space in between the rows of buildings. Just as they predicted, the windows opened to reveal laser guns behind them. And just as the guns started firing…

"Barrel roll!" On Pam's cried, each pair jerked to one side to make a barrel roll move on its hover-board. When they did, the lasers shot at them bounced off the smooth-mirror bottoms of the hover-boards and hit the guns instead to melt them.

"Sweet, Pam!" Jaden called out to her.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Pam called back upon seeing that they're getting close to the volcano now. "Chazz! Discord! Get your _shuriken_ ready!" Discord quickly got out the icy star and handed it to Chazz, who took it quickly. A minute later, the group was right over the volcano.

"Throw it into the lava!" At Pam's order, Chazz flung the _shuriken_ into the lava below. As it flew towards the liquid heat, it started to grow larger, larger than the volcano's molten projectiles. When the now giant star struck the lava, ice began spreading out and across the lava rapidly, freezing the boiling pool over. Before they knew it, the entire top of the volcano was frozen over with white/blue ice.

"Cool," Chazz replied with awe.

"Is that supposed to be a pun?" Discord snorted, trying to hold back a laugh.

"No!" Chazz protested as they got closer to the waves.

"Goth! Jaden! The orb!" Goth and Jaden then got out the orb just as it started to glow and give off a bright light. When it vanished, the hover-boards have changed into surfboards and are now riding the waves.

"Whoa, hold on tight, Nos!" Pam cried out to her hover-board buddy.

"Like I have a choice!" the Energy Vampire replied, clinging to her in fear.

"Surf's up, dudes!" Jaden cried with a grin.

"And me without my swimming trunks!" Discord laughed. They rode the waves the best they could for about a minute or so before they saw themselves getting closer to the platform at the end of the obstacle.

"Get ready!" Pam called out to the others. "And…jump!" They all jumped off the surfboards and landed safely onto the platform, leaving the surfboards to crash down with the waves.

When they landed on the platform safely, a pulse of light from some kind erupted from it and spread out across the entire area. When it vanished, they saw that the area has changed just like the other obstacles. It now looked like a Yu-Gi-Oh version of Disney World made for Monsters. There's a Toon World castle, a haunted mansion like out of the Yami card, a light show like out of the Realm of Light card, etc.

"Looks like the most dangerous place in the subterranean has become the _happiest_ place in the subterranean," Pam stated.

"Nice one," Discord chuckled.

"Either way," Pythor stated, "we've made it through alive." They all then turned to the doorway to their final destination.

"Now all that's left is to enter that doorway and get to the great power," Pam stated. "Let's do this." And as the doors opened before them, the group entered the final obstacle.


	11. Chapter 10

**Here's the final obstacle, which will be focused on my OC's choice. In addition, I own no one else, and I own nothing else; just my OC. In addition, the song I put in I also do _not_ own but is a parody of "Stronger than You," sung by Estelle/Garnet and belonging to Rebecca Sugar and her awesome work Steven Universe. Thank you for letting me put in the disclaimers, and enjoy.**

The inside of the area looks more tranquil than they expected. It is almost like they've stepped into the Temple of Zeus while it's still young, but the columns looked as though they're peppered with gems. And the floor is marble so well polished that Pam thought it's under a huge pane of glass.

But the great power that stands before them is a sight to behold as well. It looks almost like a giant version of the monstrance that Pam sometimes sees at church, except it's made of glass instead of gold. There are also six orbs encircling a seventh, each of the seven holding swirling energy within with a crystal inside: a red flame; an orange twister; a yellow sun; a green mountain; a blue water droplet; and a violet moon. The seventh one in the middle is a yin-yang.

"This is it, guys," Pam said to them with a smile. "The great power that will help save all of Ponyville."

"Yeah, but…now what?" asked Skrawl. "How are we to use it?" They then thought about it.

"I wonder if…" Jaden said before walking up to the large monstrance. He then held his hand up to the orb with the flame and placed his hand on it…and his Dueldisk started to glow red!

"Nice thinking, Jaden," Nos replied with a smile.

"Yeah, but…nothing else seems to be happening," Chazz pointed out.

"Maybe _uno_ isn't enough," Goth stated. That's when Pam recalled Starswirl's words.

" _As you work together as a team, let your hearts be as one."_

"Goth, you're right," she said. "One _isn't_ enough."

"It isn't?" the others replied.

"No," she answered. "In the four obstacles before, we had to be a team. This is one is about teamwork as well. _All_ off us have to be holding our hands onto our respective orbs, and that should activate the great power."

"Then what are we waiting for?" replied Pythor.

So as Discord stood at the side to route for them, the others went up to the monstrance. Nos placed his hand on the twister orb, and his Dueldisk started to glow orange. Goth placed his wing-claw on the sun orb, and his Dueldisk started to glow yellow. Skrawl placed his Armorph-hand on the mountain orb, and his Dueldisk started to glow green. Chazz placed his hand on the droplet orb, and his Dueldisk started to glow blue. And Pythor placed his hand on the moon orb, and his Dueldisk started to glow violet.

Pam is now the last one. As she reached out to place her hand on the yin-yang orb…

"DYAUGH!" Hearing Discord cry out, Pam turned around sharply to see him suddenly pinned to one of the columns by black rings glowing sickly green on his neck and arms.

 _That aura_ , Pam thought with shock. _Oh, no…not her…_ She turned sharply to the others.

"Guys," she cried, "keep your hands on the orbs!"

"Oh, why don't you just let them do the opposite instead?" a low female voice advised rather coldly. They turned to the front to find the former Changeling Queen Chrysalis standing before them with a sly but arrogant smile.

"Chrysalis!" Pam cried, activating her Dueldisk and holding her other hand up to the last orb. "One false move, and I'll touch the last orb!"

"You know that old hag?" Skrawl asked, his hand still on his orb.

"Who are you calling a hag?!" Chrysalis demanded angrily.

"She's a has-been enemy of Equestria wanting to conquer it all," Pam answered. "She's obviously here to stop us from activating the great power like Starswirl warned us." Chrysalis only smiled at her softly.

"Actually, I'm here to stop you from making the worst mistake of your life," she explained calmly. Pam glared at her suspiciously.

"What are you saying?" she demanded.

"I'm saying that Starswirl hasn't been fully honest with you, Pam," the Changeling stated. "Don't you know what will happen if you activate the great power?"

"Duh," Pam replied with an unconvinced roll of her eyes, "all those Monsters trying to attack Ponyville."

"Well, yes, that," Chrysalis replied. "But if you also activate the great power…" She then gave her a half-lidded gaze. "You won't be able to go home." Pam's angry glare fell to shock.

"Wh…What?" Chrysalis only smirked at her.

"That's right, Pamela," she stated. "The great power is your key to returning to your world. As long as it says inactive like it is now, you can still get home. But if you use it on those Monsters attacking Ponyville instead, you'll lose your chance and be trapped here in Equestria forever."

"Don't listen to her, Pam!" Pythor cried to her. "She's obviously trying to trick you! If you go home, Ponyville's done for!" And yet Pam can't stop but pay attention to Chrysalis with growing sorrow.

"How else will you be able to return home, Pamela? Think about everyone in your world you've left behind…your friends…your family…your—OW!"

Pam blinked with surprise when something struck Chrysalis close to her eye, nearly poking it out. Looking down at the floor, she saw it's a chocolate wafer straw. Chrysalis turned to Discord, who's obviously the one who threw the straw at her with his tail.

"Just ignore her, Pam," he said to her smugly despite his current situation. "She obviously stinks at lying far worse than a skunk." Chrysalis was ticked off at that insult.

"Me?!" she demanded like an immature brat. "You're a liar too!"

" _Used to_ ," Discord corrected her. "And unlike you, I've been reformed and made some friends. I swear, you're such a bratty little sister."

"Bratty lit—YOU'RE NOT EVEN MY _REAL_ BROTHER!"

At those words, Pam immediately snapped out of it. She saw Mel through Chrysalis' enraged expression…and remembered her words from their fight that led her here.

" _YOU'RE NOT EVEN MY REAL SISTER!"_

Discord was right…Chrysalis _had_ to be lying to her…Her family had lied to her, after all. So with the Changeling distracted, Pam turned and placed her hand upon the yin-yang orb, causing her Dueldisk to glow rainbow colors. Then the monstrance started to glow with a white light. Sensing it, Chrysalis turned to the seven heroes with dismay.

"No…NO…NOOO!" At her cry, a rainbow-colored pulse erupted from the great power and across/up from the subterranean. It spread throughout Ponyville above. And when it struck the Monsters, they glowed white before shrinking into harmless cards that fluttered down towards the surprised Ponies coming from feeling the warm pulse.

Back at the subterranean, the light vanished, and so has the monstrance. The seven heroes stood in its place.

Jaden's black turtleneck has become crimson, and a flame-patterned cape is attached to the back of his jacket's collar.

The red parts of Nos' body suddenly grew brighter into persimmon, and his cape has been replaced with a wind-patterned one.

Goth has on a goldenrod breastplate on his torso like a conquistador, and attached to the shoulders is a sun-patterned cape.

Skrawl has two viridian bands (one tied around his head like Rambo, and the other around the upper bicep of his Armorph), and the string of his leaf-patterned cape is hitched together on the shoulder of his Armorph.

Chazz's jacket's open to reveal a cerulean turtleneck underneath, and a water-patterned cape is attached to the back of said jacket's collar.

Pythor has on a lavender _gi_ , and attached to the shoulders is a moon-patterned cape.

Pam has changed the most of course. Her denim jeans with white sneakers have been replaced with onyx leggings and ivory knee-high boots. Her black shirt and black pleather jacket have been replaced with a pearl turtleneck under an unzipped vest that looks to be made of sequins of opals. And instead of a cape like the guys, she has on a pastel-colored silk scarf and ivory fingerless gloves. And her glasses are gone.

Once her vision had cleared, Chrysalis turned and saw that the seven have changed because of the great power, much to her shock and dismay.

"Hey, Chrys!" Discord mocked with a laugh. "Don't look now, but you just got your flanked whooped again…This time, by a _human_! Ha-ha-haaaa!" Chrysalis only ignored him as she scowled at Pam, obviously ticked off as she is chagrinned.

"Are you serious?" she growled. "You couldn't get back home if you activate the great power, and chose to do it anyway? Why? I _know_ you well enough considering I know your _name_." Pam only laughed at her softly, upsetting her more that she doesn't believe her.

"You're wrong," Pam then said with a gaze that's reminding Chrysalis that she's lost. "You _don't_ know me well enough, and you don't know my friends either. We're different now after coming together."

"How would you know?" Chrysalis spat.

"Because if that weren't true," Pam answered, "you would've won. But the reality is you have lost…to seven new and improved knights."

 **Pam:** _We're the Duel Knights_

 _Here together_

 _And we're never going down_

 _To the likes of you_

' _Cuz we know far better_

 _And every part of us_

 _Is saying, "Go beat her!"_

Chrysalis only scowled at Pam and the others smirking at her as they would at a sore loser. They're not going to get away with making a mockery out of her. So with her horn's magic, she summoned forth a black scythe with a sickly green blade.

 **Pam:** _My boys and I_

 _We'll never follow your rules_

 _Come at us without_

 _Any of your lame-o tools_

 _Let's face it_

 _We know you're through_

 _So let's go_

 _It's us versus you_

Pam only smiled before snapping her fingers by her eyes, and a pair of onyx sunglasses appeared in front of them. Chrysalis then charged at the group to slice them with her scythe, but they dodged it. As the Changeling tried to beat them, Pam and the boys kept on mocking her via song, making her unable to think straight.

 **Skrawl:** _Go ahead and try to beat us_

 _If you're able_

 **Nos:** _But you'll see that our bond_

 _Is now more stable_

 **Goth:** _I see you hate us_

 _Saving everypony_

 _But I think you're ticked off_

' _Cuz you're lonely_

Because of this, Pythor knocked the scythe out of her magical grip with is tail and into Skrawl's Armorph hand. The Zoner then broke the weapon in half like a twig before tossing the blade half up to Nos, who flew up to Discord and used the blade to cut the rings and free him. As Discord flew off to check on Twilight, Starlight, and the others, the enraged Chrysalis spread out her wings and charged at the knights, who also charged at her.

 **Jaden:** _But you'll never stop_

 _What we made together_

 **Chazz:** _We're gonna stay_

 _A team forever_

 **Pythor:** _You can't break us apart_

' _Cuz we'll be back newer_

 **Pam:** _And we'll always be_

 _Better Duelists than you are_

Meanwhile, the Ponies in the castle sensed that Pam and the others have found the great power and rushed for the subterranean.

 **Pam:** _We're Equestria's_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

They had just entered what used to be the first obstacle when they saw Discord rushing up to them.

 **Pam:** _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

"Discord," Twilight said when they got closer together. "Where are Pam and the others?"

"They're in the last room fighting Chrysalis," he panted, trying to catch his breath.

" _Chrysalis?!_ " they cried in shocked unison.

"Why didn't you say so sooner?!" Shining cried, rushing past the Draconequus.

"I just did," Discord called back before they rushed after him.

 **Pam:** _This is who we are_

 _This is who I am_

 _And if you think you can beat us_

 _Then you better rethink your plan_

 _Because we are a team_

 _And I won't let that end_

 _And we won't let you have Ponyville_

 _And we won't let you hurt our friends_

Back with Pam and the guys, they are mopping the floor with Chrysalis. Completely outnumbered seven to one, every time she one of them, another of the team attacks her from her blind side. It wasn't long before Goth's summoned Ferus Arcus cracked her horn with his bow and arrow, close to shattering it.

 **Skrawl:** _Go ahead and try to beat us_

 _If you're able_

 **Nos:** _But you'll see that our bond_

 _Is now more stable_

 **Goth:** _You think we're something_

 _You're not scared_

' _Cuz you think you see_

 _What we're made of_

Chrysalis then took flight and nosedived to impale Pam with her cracked horn, but the girl grabbed it and judo-threw her. Her horn broke off and she ended up crashing into the now empty monstrance, shattering it into hundreds of beautiful crystal shards.

 **Jaden:** _But we're more than_

 _Seven knights_

 **Chazz:** _All we love makes us_

 _Fight for right_

 **Pythor:** _We are one yin_

' _We are one yang_

 **Pam:** _We are one family_

As she stood up from the shards, the team then finished her off, one blow at a time from their summoned Monsters, which are stronger because of the great power. First was Chazz with his Ojama King; second was Nos with his Vampire Lord.

 **Pam:** _We're Equestria's_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _And we're stronger than you_

Third was Jaden with his Elemental Hero Flame Wingman; fourth was Skrawl with his Jinzo.

 **Pam:** _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _And we're stronger than you_

Fifth was Goth with his Ferus Arcus; sixth was Pythor with his Hyozanryu.

 **Pam:** _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _And we're stronger than you_

Pam was last with her Seiyaryu. Unable to take another beat-down, Chrysalis collapsed and was down for the count.

 **Pam:** _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

 _Du-u-u-uel Knights_

Discord, Spike, and the Ponies rushed into the room. All they found were the Duel Knights in their new looks, a beaten down Chrysalis, and Pam holding the Changeling's cracked horn in her hand.

"Aw, man!" Rainbow cried with dismay. "Don't tell me we missed the fight!" The Duel Knights turned to her and the others.

"Sorry to say this, Rainbow," Jaden said with a shrug, "but…yeah, ya did." Rainbow groaned/whined in reply as Rarity went up to Pythor.

"My stars, Pythor," she stated. "That cape is definitely you."

"Oh, you think so?" he asked, checking it out. "I always thought I was more of an eminence until I got it." Shining Armor meanwhile went up to Pam's side, glaring hostilely down at Chrysalis.

"What is _she_ doing here?" he demanded. Pam can tell that he's holding quite the hostile grudge against her for what she almost did to him…to his wife Cadence…and to his daughter Flurry Heart.

"Apparently, she was trying to trick me into not activating the great power with the guys," she answered bluntly, crossing her arms across her chest as she also glared down at the defeated has-been queen. "But I chose to activate it anyway and help the guys beat her." Shining then turned to him with a calmer smile.

"Well, thanks to you seven, Ponyville's safe again," he assured her. "And don't worry; we'll make sure she receives the upmost punishment." While they're not looking though, Chrysalis took out a blue vial with her tail.

"That's what _you_ think," she snarled. That remark made Pam and Shining turned to her…just as she slammed the vial into the ground. It shattered with a _SMASH_ and released a cloud of blue smoke so huge that it filled up the room. Pam staggered back as she and everyone else started coughing and sneezing.

"What is that?!" Nos cried. "I can't see anything!"

"Smoke bomb!" Skrawl coughed.

"Hang on," Discord called with a sneeze. "I got this." There was suddenly a loud whirring sound before the blue smoke disappeared into a vacuum cleaner that the Draconequus conjured up.

"Nice work, dude," Jaden replied with a smile. "That's one way to help someone with allergies."

"Guys, she's gone!" Chazz cried. They all saw that Chrysalis has indeed vanished. They even spotted a hole in the ceiling of the room to indicate her escape.

"Darn it!" Shining growled, slamming his front hoof into the floor (not cracking it, of course). "She got away _again_!"

"Don't worry, Shining," Pam said to him, looking down at the Changeling's horn still in her grasp. "I've a feeling we'll be seeing her again."


	12. Chapter 11

**Here's the next chapter I've put together. Keep in mind that this isn't the last one; I'm going to add an epilogue later. Also, keep in mind that I own only my OC Pam and her family and nothing and no one else. Enjoy.**

Later, after the entire group has made it to the surface and stepped out of the front doors of the castle, they were all greeted by loud cheers and applause from the Ponies of Ponyville. They had gathered around the tall, crystal-tree building to cheer for their new heroes. As they slowly walked down the steps, Pam and the guys waved at them with surprised smiles (Pam's of course was a bit more bashful). When they were all at the bottom of the steps, they saw Princess Celestia standing before them with a warm smile.

"Princess Celestia," Pam said in awe before getting down on one knee before her (she _is_ royalty, after all).

"Your Highness," Pythor greeted, bowing to her like a gentleman.

" _Su Majestad_ ," Goth purred, bowing to her as well. The other Knights bowed to her as well. Of course, Chazz had to _make_ the oblivious/naïve Jaden bow to Celestia.

"Jaden, show some respect!" he hissed to him through clenched teeth as he pulled him down by his shirt. "She's royalty!"

"Okay, okay," Jaden hissed back as he bowed to the white Alicorn. "I'm bowing already. Don't get your jacket in a bunch." Princess Celestia only chuckled lightly as she then stepped up to the seven new heroes of Ponyville.

"Young heroes," she said to them as they all stood up straight before her again. "On behalf of Ponyville, I like to thank you personally for saving it."

"Well, Pam's the _real_ hero here, Your Highness," Skrawl explained, throwing his arm around Pam's shoulders with a grin. "Chrysalis was trying to make her go back home to her world and not activate the great power, but Pam here chose to activate it anyway to save the town."

Pam frowned at these words. Skrawl bringing up that sacrifice made her think about her family back home. Mom…Dad…even Luke, Mel, and Vikki. Upon thinking about them, Pam realized that she had hurt them by running away, although she only wanted to find out who her _real_ family was. She also thought about her times before learning that she was adopted. She and Mom baking together…Dad teasing her…Vikki and her friends bringing her along for their nights out in the town…Luke letting her watch him play his video games…Mel helping her practice for volleyball games…They may not have been her _real_ family, but they all loved her all the same.

"I'm not a good hero," she said sadly, gently removing Skrawl's arms from her shoulder. "Heck, I'm not even a good daughter _or_ a good sister." The others looked at her with surprise at her words.

"Pam, if this is about not being able to go home, it will be alright," Nos assured her. "We'll help you through it."

"It's not that," Pam explained, feeling the tears sting her eyes. "Pythor never told you this back at the maze, but…Before I came here to Equestria, I was asked to be one of the bridesmaids for my brother's fiancée Amy. But just today, I found out that they broke off their engagement due to money problems. I was devastated because unlike my sisters, I _never_ get to be a bridesmaid. I then got into a fight with Mel who didn't like Amy, and…"

"And what?" Goth asked, concerned at the sight of the tears streaming down her face.

"She blurted out angrily that I'm _not_ her actual sister," she answered, unable to hold back her tears. "I then went to my parents to get the truth, and they told me that I _am_ adopted. So I ran away. That was how I found my Dueldisk and ended up here." She then held up her wrist with her Dueldisk to emphasize her point.

"I know running away is never the answer, but…I wanted to know who I really am," she went on, burying her face into her hands. "Just thinking about my whole life as nothing but a lie just hurts me inside. But now what hurts me more is that my adoptive family must be devastated over me running away in the first place because of my selfishness." She then looked up at Celestia who's frowning with pity for her. "You see? I'm not good at all." She was suddenly cut off when Pythor hugged her gently.

"That's not true," he said to her as he brushed her tears away. "You _are_ a good person. You chose to stay instead of returning home to help us all."

"And you treated some of us like your friends rather than your enemies because you see some good in us," Skrawl added.

"And let us not forget that you helped us figure out our Dueldisks and how to get through a couple of those obstacles," Nos pointed out as well.

"But…what about what I did before?" Pam asked, wiping away the tears that were starting to form in her eyes again.

"None of that matters, _chica_ ," Goth assured her softly. "You we care if you're adopted or not?"

"Goth's right," Jaden agreed. "And you're life isn't a lie. You lived it your life the way you _chose_ to live it."

"Either way," Chazz finished with a smile, "we love you for who you are."

"Guys…" Pam felt tears run down her face again as their words sunk in. Not tears of sadness, but tears of happiness. With that, she threw her arms around Pythor's neck in a big hug.

"I love you guys too," she murmured. In reply, the others gathered around and hugged her. At the side, Discord started to sniffle with a smile.

"Discord?" Applejack said when she noticed this. "You a'right, sugah cube?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he answered, quickly wiping away his forming tears. "Just…allergies getting to me. Nothing to worry about."

Once it was all sorted out for the better, Celestia and Twilight turned to each other and nodded.

"Spike, take note of this," Twilight said to the little dragon as he got out a paper and quill. She then turned to everypony to give her announcement:

"Ponies of Ponyville, as the Princess and Council of Friendship, it has been me and my friends' soul duty to spread the Magic of Friendship throughout our world. We have fought off enemies and made friends along the way.

"This day has been the same _and_ different at the same time. We have made seven new friends, but they have fought off the _main_ enemy as we kept the invading enemies at bay. It is then that my friends and I have found out that there are some things we cannot face on our own, especially with the new happenings our new friends are familiar with while we are not.

"Therefore, I decree that our new friends be our new Knights of Friendship Castle!" The newly dubbed Knights' faces lit up in reply as everyone cheered at the news. That's when Pythor nudged Pam's shoulder.

"Well, say something, team leader," he purred to her. She turned to him with surprise.

"Team leader?"

"Why not?" Goth answered. "You've proven yourself back there." Pam smiled in reply before stepping up to Twilight's side, slightly nervous.

"Thank you, Princess Twilight," she said before turning to everypony. "I'm…not exactly much of a speech-maker, but…Well, this is a great honor for us. And I know that we'll do all that we can to fight off the threat like the invasion you had all seen before firsthand. And as leader of the team, I kinda came up with a name for our group."

"What do you have in mind?" Twilight asked, obviously interested.

"Well, we're protecting Equestria…we have Dueling Powers…and we _are_ your new Knights…"

"I think I get the idea," Twilight mused with a smile and a nod. Returning the smile and nod, Pam turned to the crowd.

"From this day forth," Pam then announced, "we shall be known as…the Equestrian Duel Knights!" Everyone cheered in reply as the others stepped up to her sides; Goth, Jaden, and Nos at her left, and Pythor, Chazz, and Skrawl at her right.

"Duel Knights…" she cried before all seven punched the sky with their Dueldisk arms.

"DUEL AS ONE!" they cried in unison. Everyone cheered for them in reply.

Later, all of Ponyville fell into celebration (with Discord and Pinkie's super-fast help) to welcome the Duel Knights into their town. Even Pam and Pythor couldn't help but dance with each other…even if it means the rest of the gang watching them with knowing grins.

Some time later, as the sun was setting and the partying was quieting down, Princess Celestia and Discord called Pam and the Knights over.

"I'm certain after all that partying, you're all ready to return to your worlds," Celestia said to them.

"But what if we're needed again?" asked Chazz, turning to the Ponies with concern.

"No need to worry," Celestia explained to him. "If ever you wish to return to our world, or if there's trouble, your Dueldisks will bring you hear. And they can help you return home as well."

"By the way, Skrawl and Nos," Discord said, placing his claw on his chin as if he were inquiring them. "I've heard that you asked Twilight, Spike, and Starlight if you can with them at their castle instead?"

"Well, I'm just not sure if my dimension is ready for me to make a comeback," Nos explained.

"And I'm afraid my new Armorph will give my former enemies the wrong idea," Skrawl added.

"We understand," Celestia replied with a smile. "I'm glad the three are happy to have some extra company."

"Especially Spike," Jaden added. "He could use an extra hand if he needs it in the library."

" _Uno momento_ ," Goth said. "I thought Pam couldn't go home because she helped us activate the great power."

"Goth, if you had been paying attention to Discord," Celestia explained with a kind smile, "you would've understand that Chrysalis was lying about that to stop you all." The six male Knights were shocked at this realization.

"In that case," Goth growled, "I am glad that Pamela broke that _bruja's_ horn off because she's _not_ getting it back."

"Speaking of the horn," Pam asked as she held up the Changeling's cracked horn in her hand, "what are we going to do with it then?"

"I think _you_ should keep it, Pam," Discord answered, "considering _you_ were the one who broke it off. Now that I think about it, you can make a killer dagger out of it."

"Sounds like a cool idea," Pam replied. "Although a little gross."

"Are you ready to go home then?" Celestia asked. "And if it's alright with you, Discord and I wish to come along and talk with your adopted family."

"Alright," Pam answered, "although I don't know how you're going to get back here afterwards."

"Don't worry," she replied. "We have our ways." With that agreed upon, Pam held her Dueldisk up to her heart and concentrated hard, as if the Dueldisk was telepathically telling her what to do. A moment later, it glowed and gave off a bright flash. Pam didn't remember anything else that happened as her world then went black…probably since this is her first time using that technique.


	13. Epilogue

**Here's the epilogue. Once again, I own nothing and no one but my OC Pam, her parents, and Mel. I also will be working on XLR8's requested sequel, and in the meantime, I hope to get some ideas for my next NOX short. Thanks, and enjoy the epilogue.**

 **Epilogue: New Life Begins…**

Pam groaned softly as she opened her eyes, finding herself in her room as some of the morning sunlight shined in through her window. Turning to the side, she found Killian and Bailey sleeping on their mats. She then recalled what happened to her and sighed.

"It just a dream," she told herself as she ran her left hand's fingers through her hair. But then, she saw something on her wrist. Lowering it, she got a good look at it…

"My Dueldisk!" It is indeed her Dueldisk, only it's now in its wristband form. That's when she noticed her other hand clutching something. Throwing the covers off herself, she found Chrysalis' horn in her right hand! Only it's now attached to a platinum dagger handle so that it can be the blade of the dagger. Hanging on the handle was a note on a string:

" _Thought I'd save you the trouble of getting you a handle for your new dagger. D_." Pam smiled, knowing very well that "D" is actually Discord. But then another thought came to her. If it hasn't been a dream, then that would mean that Discord and Princess Celestia must've talked to her parents.

"Then they must've known I ran away," she said to herself. With a start, she jumped out of bed and rushed out of her room for the kitchen/dining room, startling her dogs awake so they ran after her.

"Mom! Dad!" Pam cried when she came to the room. At the dining room table sat her parents. Her mother is a plump woman with brown hair turning silver hair. And her father has short and curly white hair and a white mustache to match. When Pam cried out, the two of them looked up with surprise.

"Pam," her mother said, getting up from her chair. "Are you—" Before she could finish her question, Pam threw her arms around her and hugged her hard.

"Mom, I'm sorry I ran away!" she sobbed into her chest. "I was just upset that I was adopted and wanted to find out who I really am. I wasn't thinking about hurting you guys. I…I'm so sorry." Her mother looked down at her as she wrapped her arms around her.

"It's okay, sweetie," she said to her softly. "It's okay…" She then comforted her daughter for a few minutes until she has stopped crying. Once she did, her father stood up.

"Uh, Pam," he then said. "There's someone who wants to talk to you after you woke up." Pam looked at him to see him pointing at the side, and she turned to see Mel coming into the dining room.

Seeing her sister who started this whole mess but is probably too proud to admit it, Pam didn't feel like _talking_ to her at the moment. But upon seeing the upset expression on her face, she couldn't help but give her the chance to explain herself…Of course, a little testing wouldn't hurt either.

Wanting to give the two sisters some privacy, their parents left the room. Once they're gone, Mel slowly stepped in and looked up at Pam, who looked at her coldly to make her wince.

"Uh…hey?"

"Just so you know, when I said that I didn't mean to hurt you, I meant just Mom and Dad," Pam said, crossing her arms across her chest. "So no, I'm not apologizing to _you_ too."

 _Ouch! Cold…_

"I didn't expect you to," Mel sighed. "Look, you were right; I was completely inconsiderate of your feelings."

"What tipped you off?" Pam scoffed. "Blurting out that I was adopted?" Mel glared at her with annoyance.

"Hey, I feel guilty about what I did to you, but not with _that_ attitude."

"Whatev," Pam sighed, turning her back on her.

"Pam, it wasn't _just_ telling you something that we've kept hidden from you all these years," Mel sighed. "I was also talking about the wedding issues. You _are_ the only sister who didn't get to be a bridesmaid, but Vikki and I brushed it off as just a phase."

"'Just a _phase_ '?" Pam retorted, not turning to her. "I felt so…unwanted. Useless even."

"You weren't useless at my wedding."

"Reading the Readings doesn't count as an _art_." Mel sighed when Pam made her point.

"See, that's another thing. We took your art talents for _granted_. But that's because…" She sighed again before hesitantly finishing. "Vikki and I were jealous." Hearing those words, Pam's eyes went wide before turning to Mel, who was looking down in shame.

"You? Jealous?!"

"Yes, Pam, we were jealous," Mel sighed, looking up at her. "That's why I didn't give you a more creative role in putting my wedding together. I was afraid _you_ would end up the center of attention instead of _me_."

"Even though I wasn't the bride?"

"Even though you weren't the bride?" Pam then thought of something.

"Was that why Vikki told me to get over myself when I told her that I was bummed out about not being Kat's bridesmaid too?"

"Yeah, although you're right that she should've let you down _nicely_. She was afraid that you might show her up with Kat."

"And a minute ago, youwere complaining about _my_ bad attitude." Mel ignored her as she then continued.

"Anyway, when we woke up last night to the sound of the dogs barking and found your note on the bed, Mom and Dad freaked out. They practically yelled at me, telling me that it was all mine and Vikki's fault that we weren't more considerate of your feelings and art talents. Heck, I was practically crying my eyes out as we were looking for you.

"Then Discord and Princess Celestia appeared with you while you were out. They explained to us what happened, even you mentioning our fight. Discord practically _scolded_ me and gave me a _serious_ dressing down."

"I didn't take Discord to be _that_ serious," Pam replied, although she was silently joking with her sister.

"You _know_ what I mean. Anyway, I came close to denying that it was my fault, and he threatened to turn my hair into a Mohawk of moss if I did."

"Now _that_ sounds like Discord."

"Ignoring that. Anyway, he even used that same threat on me unless I make up to you for my selfish inconsideration. And that includes associating with weddings."

"Aren't Luke and Amy still calling it off? Cuz I'm willing to forgive them either way."

"Yeah, they are," Mel sighed. "But this'll be different. I got you a job as assistant wedding planner."

"What?!" Pam cried with surprise. "But…how…and in a short amount of—Wait, did you do all that in the middle of the night?"

"Well, I don't want a moss Mohawk. Anyway, I took your portfolio to a friend of mine who's a wedding planner for hire looking for an assistant. I showed her your portfolio and told her how creative and detail-oriented you are, and she's impressed…even though she was sleepy and surprised that I woke her up at three in the morning." Pam snorted to hold back a laugh.

"You woke up _that_ late?"

"Like I said, I don't want a moss Mohawk. Anyway, she decided to skip the interview and instead asked that you come over next Monday so you can get settled in and learn the ropes." She then rubbed the back of her neck before asking her. "So…are we good now?" Pam just wrapped her arms around Mel and hugged her.

"We're good now. Thanks, Sis." Mel smiled as she hugged Pam back.

Pam knows that things _will_ be different now, and she's just not talking about wedding planning. She's now a part of something big, a leader of a team of heroes helping others through Dueling…and in _another_ world! So what if she hasn't figure out who she really is. It's like the others told her: Her life was never a lie because she lived it the way she chose to live it, and everyone she loves will always love her for who she is.

And that's something she can live with.


End file.
